


Combine and Complement

by hardly_loquacious



Category: The Mentalist
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance, Romantic Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-27
Updated: 2012-08-27
Packaged: 2017-11-12 23:45:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 72,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/497005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hardly_loquacious/pseuds/hardly_loquacious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six months after Red John's death, Lisbon and Jane are sent to Oregon to consult on a case involving a copy cat serial killer. While there, they share a house. Jane decides he wants to make the arrangement permanent and does his best to make it happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much to spyglass_ for the beta of the monster fic as well as for acting as a sounding board for most of the process, particularly for the baseball stuff. Sports is far from my strong suit, and I know I asked some unbelievably simplistic questions (how was I supposed to know how long the games last?). So thank you for everything.
> 
> Thank you also to the wonderful Chizuruchibi, who made the accompanying art for this fic. It can be found here: [Power Struggle, by Chizuruchibi](http://archiveofourown.org/works/497134/chapters/871094). I enjoy it very much.
> 
> Also, I hope everyone enjoys the fic. I had a lot of fun writing it for hetbigbang this year!

Red John was dead.

The details were irrelevant. All that mattered was that he was really and truly dead.

It wasn’t a trick, a decoy, or a doppelganger, but the real thing.

The serial killer was no more.

No more women grotesquely cut up and left on display. No more red smiley faces painted on the wall in blood. No more moles. No more creepy, increasingly personal messages. No more threats.

No more constant, underlying fear.

And no more revenge.

That was the crux of the matter.

Red John was really and truly dead, and so, by extension, was Patrick Jane’s decade-long quest to kill a man.

It as a shift he was still trying to adjust to, a sudden gaping hole in his day to day existence.

He’d stayed with the CBI. The reasons why were obvious, at least to him.

After all, there was no need to add to what still (months later) felt like a massive hole in his psyche by abandoning the only stable thing left in his life. Jane had undervalued the team over the years, but (almost in spite of himself) they’d come to mean something to him. Besides, apart from filling the void, the cases really did provide an occasionally amusing distraction.

He was pleased the serial killer was gone of course, even if he wasn’t sure how to define his world anymore.

The lack of Red John was an absolutely overwhelming relief, one Jane wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to.

He wasn’t the only one who was relieved.

Obviously Lisbon was satisfied as well, and not just because she’d received a commendation for closing the case. Satisfied, relieved, thankful.

Her team was safe. She was safe. And Jane was safe. Safe and maybe even sane, relatively speaking at least.

No more betrayals, no more secrecy, no more private plans that often skirted the far side of legality. No more risking her job, her credibility, her position.

She could go back to working her cases like any other CBI agent, albeit a CBI agent with a particularly unorthodox consultant.

Because not only was Red John gone, but Jane was staying, still by her side, still helping her.

It was definitely more than she’d ever dared let herself hope for. Really, as it was the whole situation had surpassed her wildest dreams.

If someone had asked her a year earlier, she’d have told them (reluctantly) that she wasn’t sure they’d ever catch the monster. That she wasn’t sure Jane would ever achieve any kind of mental stability, any kind of peace.

Even as it was, there’d been good days and bad days post Red John. The adjustment hadn’t been easy, for either of them.

But they were working through it. 

The fact that he was still willing to work with her was nothing short of miraculous from her perspective. Some mornings Lisbon still couldn’t quite believe it when she arrived at work and saw his now-familiar smile (or more likely, his prone body as he napped on his couch). She wasn’t sure what she’d do if he ever did decide to leave. She’d gotten so used to having him around.

She’d cope of course, but that wasn’t the point.

Mostly she tried not to think about it.

When she did, she told herself that after all she’d put up with over the years, she deserved to have his help with her cases without the spectre of a serial killer looming over both of them. 

She deserved the friend who bought her ice cream when they went for coffee in the afternoon, who listened when she had a problem (and sometimes made her tea), who ensured that her life was never boring. And she deserved a consultant who helped keep her closed case record the highest in the department and Lisbon herself on her toes.

For the first time in years, life felt good. She wanted it to stay that way. 

Lisbon had learned long ago to keep her expectations low, not to ask for much. Now that she had almost more than she wanted... Well, she’d do her best to maintain that little bubble of happiness.

Jane was vaguely aware of her tentative happiness, but hadn’t really gotten around to analyzing it, to looking deeper. He was too busy being relieved that he could smile at her without feeling like he was painting a target on her back. Worrying about what exactly the future would bring to him seemed trivial in comparison.

He’d been afraid for so long. Afraid of wanting really anything at all in case it was snatched away from him. And now that he had his liberty, he didn’t quite know what to do with it.

Didn’t know how to fill the ever-present hole in his life.

He was taking steps to adjust though, tentatively, half-afraid that if he rushed he’d wake up and find it’d all been a dream.

Still, even if his progress was slow, it was inevitable. 

Progress always was.

Even if Lisbon would have been happy to keep the status quo. 

Even if she’d never ever dare to even hope for something better. Not when things were comfortable as they were.

What was comfortable was irrelevant.

With Red John gone, their holding pattern wasn’t sustainable anymore – for either of them.

Because, even if Jane wasn’t quite ready to admit it yet, all holes did eventually need to be filled, one way or another.

And it as only a matter of time before he realized what he was missing.

xxx

TBC


	2. Chapter 1

_Approximately six months post-serial killer_

xxx

“Jane,” Lisbon called as she walked out into the bullpen. “Did you take the Stringer file?”

“Why do you ask?” her consultant asked from his position stretched out on his couch.

Rolling her eyes, Lisbon shared a look of exasperation with Van Pelt. “No reason, I just like to know where all copies of my files are at any given time,” she said sarcastically.

“Well, that’s very conscientious of you, Lisbon,” Jane assured her. “Although some might say a little obsessive.”

She swatted him with the file in her left hand, the one that she wanted to compare to the Stringer case. Then she nudged him over so she could sit next to him. “No, you idiot,” she replied. “I need it because I want to compare it to...”

Jane shook his head and interrupted her. “The pattern of the bruises isn’t the same between it and the McCleary case. I already checked. Implement, pattern and force used aren’t the same, so I don’t think the cases are linked. We’ll need to find a lead on Jeanine McCleary’s killer somewhere else.”

Lisbon stared at him in shock.

Jane let himself enjoy her befuddlement for a few seconds. “No need to look so concerned, Lisbon. I didn’t read your mind or anything. Remember, I’m not actually psychic. And I was in the same meeting you were, the one where the Director wished there was an easier way of comparing cold cases given that there’s a good chance several of them are the result of the same offender. Since I got to leave the meeting early...”

“Because you got thrown out,” Lisbon muttered.

“Not my fault I got bored,” Jane said with a small shrug. “Anyway, the fact that I had a few unexpected free hours this afternoon gave me the opportunity to compare our current case to a few recent cold ones. The fact that you had the same idea is to be expected. After all, they say that when people spend a lot of time together, they begin to think alike, and we’ve known each other for a decade now. I wouldn’t worry.”

“So I’m starting to think like you now, am I?” Lisbon checked. “Dear god, kill me now.”

Jane smirked. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Lisbon. Look on the bright side. Maybe I’m starting to think like you.”

Lisbon pinched the bridge of her nose. “Can I have my file back, please?”

Jane reached up, and without looking, grabbed a file from the top of his couch and handed it to her.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“I need caffeine,” Van Pelt said suddenly. “Good caffeine.”

“The coffee shop on the corner?” Jane asked.

“Exactly,” she agreed. “Either of you two want anything?”

“No thanks,” Lisbon told her. “I’m trying to cut back.”

Jane snorted.

Lisbon elbowed him in the side.

“I’m fine too Grace,” Jane assured her. “Their coffee may be superior, but their tea is second rate at best. Thank you for offering though.”

“No problem,” Van Pelt said absently as she grabbed her coat, leaving the two of them alone.

Lisbon glanced down at Jane and decided to take advantage of the situation.

He beat her too it with a sigh. “ _I’m fine,_ Lisbon.”

She scowled. “How did you know I...”

“I told you, people who spend a lot of time together start to think alike. Besides, you had your concerned face on,” Jane told her. “Although, you have managed to go four days in a row without asking me that question this time, which might be a new record for you since we buried Red John.”

Lisbon shrugged awkwardly, “Yeah, well...”

Jane smiled. “I’m doing okay,” he told her, knowing that it was something she might never get tired of hearing (and if he was honest, something he might never get tired of telling her).

Lisbon’s expression lightened. “Good.”

“You know what might make me feel even better though,” Jane added, deciding to take advantage of the opportunity.

Lisbon’s expression shifted from pleased to wary in less than a second. “What?”

Jane sent her his most charming grin. “Tonight’s two-for-one hamburgers at Joe’s,” he said hopefully.

Lisbon tried to contain her own smile. “You should eat healthier,” she murmured.

Jane poked her. “A little red meat never hurt anybody. Besides, I had a salad for lunch yesterday.”

“Only because I bought it for you,” Lisbon retorted.

“Irrelevant,” Jane countered. “Besides, most people agree that indulging from time to time doesn’t hurt anybody.”

Lisbon pretended to consider his offer. “I suppose I wouldn’t mind not cooking tonight,” she admitted after a second. “And if in the interests of improving your mental state...”

“Excellent!” Jane said cheerfully. “Let me know when you’re done your paperwork.”

“I’d be able to finish my paperwork more quickly if I _had_ my paperwork,” Lisbon reminded him.

“I returned your file,” Jane replied neutrally.

But Lisbon was in no mood to back down. “Yes, but if I hadn’t had to search for it in the first place...”

“Then I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to remind you of two-for-one Tuesdays,” Jane interrupted.

Lisbon stared at him. She was sure his logic made sense somewhere. “Yes, had I not had to walk out here, there would have been absolutely _no_ other opportunity for you to talk to me.”

He simply smiled at her. “Let me know when you’re ready to go.”

She shook her head, stretching slightly as she stood. “Mmkay.”

Jane watched her go.

All teasing aside, Lisbon had been looking more relaxed lately. Jane knew her increasing level of calm was directly proportional to the amount of time that had passed since Red John’s death. He thought they might now be approaching the point where Lisbon didn’t spend at least an hour a week lying awake at night, wondering if he was about to fall off the edge.

Not that Jane begrudged her the time to adjust. It’d taken him a couple of months to achieve any kind of stability after Red John had died. Looking back now, he could admit that some days his behaviour had been positively erratic. Thankfully when it came to some things, Lisbon had the patience of a saint. 

He’d definitely had cause to be glad that she was stubborn when it came to people she cared about. Over the past few months he’d really begun to let himself appreciate her friendship. It’d been odd at first, even after he’d finally accepted that Red John was dead, not having to look over his shoulder all the time. Not having to carefully weigh every move, ever visit, every outing, every touch, even every conversation, all just to make sure he wasn’t putting her in further danger.

Now the need for caution was gone.

Now he could simply enjoy her company, which was a bit of a novelty in and of itself. And he found Lisbon’s company a powerful draw. She’d been the dominant relationship in his life for years, but there’d always been the unspoken limit, the unspoken danger. Once it was gone, well, Jane couldn’t resist pushing the boundaries a little. At first he didn’t even realize he was doing it. It was completely instinctual. He’d been feeling lost, at loose ends, and Lisbon was stable. He’d needed stability; leaving the CBI hadn’t really occurred to him. There was a massive gap in his world already, one that his brain was desperately trying to fill. He couldn’t deal with another.

Then Jane had felt things start to even out. And he began to notice how much he enjoyed Lisbon’s friendship. He’d always known he liked her, but he’d started to... pay more attention somehow. He’d gone from appreciating that he didn’t have to worry about spending too much time in her company to actively seeking it out.

Oh, he’d still been cautious. Couldn’t help it, part of him still felt like the world might come crashing down around his ears any day now. And every time he coaxed her out for coffee, or tentatively suggested a movie, he had to remind himself that she was safe now. That he didn’t need to worry about making her a serial killer’s next target. 

That he was allowed to have a friend now.

He was allowed to have a friend, and he wanted Lisbon. He could have others too, of course, but Jane figured he’d start with Lisbon and go from there.

He’d never had that many close friends anyway. Better to keep things simple for the time being.

Smiling to himself, Jane began to plot how best to wangle an invitation back to her place for coffee after dinner. In spite of her supposed plans to cut back (which would last at most a week), he didn’t anticipate it being difficult.

xxx

In her office, Lisbon was reviewing her files. She sighed when she realized that Jane was right, there was no reason to suspect a combination between the two cases. Of course there wasn’t; that would have been too easy, and would have provided a whole other source of clues for this latest (incredibly frustrating) case. Technically it wasn’t even theirs. Local law enforcement hadn’t been able to solve Jeanine McCleary’s murder, so Lisbon’s team’d gotten the file to review, increased expertise, fresh set of eyes and such. It was all part of the increased inter-agency cooperation the governor (and as a result, their new Director) was pushing.

Well, nothing stood out yet. But Lisbon hated to give the file back empty-handed, so she decided to hope something would turn up in the next twenty-four hours. If all else failed, she’d just pick Jane’s brain until he gave her a series of unanswered questions to send the locals down in Modesto.

He could be useful like that.

Lisbon smiled to herself.

Yes, her consultant could be very useful. He really did close cases. And even if he did still manage to antagonize every second person he came in contact with, he also livened things up a bit. At least she was never bored.

And she wasn’t lonely. Jane could be lovely company. They’d started spending a bit of time together lately, which was nice. And Jane was staying with the CBI. He’d told her he was, and it had been six months since Red John’s death, so Lisbon figured that Jane meant it. That was even nicer.

He was even starting to make casual comments about the state of the housing market in Sacramento. He didn’t seem to find it particularly favourable, but that was beside the point. The point was that Jane had been looking into the housing market, that he was considering something _permanent_.

For the first time in what felt like years, things seemed to be going relatively well. Her team was fine. Jane was fine. Her job wasn’t in jeopardy. Their closed case rate was high. Nobody was on the verge of a mental breakdown. She didn’t need to worry about a creepy serial killer murdering her in her bed. 

All things considered, the unsolved McCleary case notwithstanding, things were going really well.

Life was actually kind of _good._

Lisbon closed her files ruefully. There really was nothing there. She’d come back tomorrow with a fresh mind.

Besides, it was two-for-one Tuesdays at her favourite hamburger place. And she had Jane to share the deal with.

Shaking her head softly, Lisbon tried to suppress the rush of affection bubbling up. Jane would be insufferable if he discovered how much she was looking forward to the evening.

It was just, well, she hadn’t really had a best friend since the sixth grade.

xxx

Jane watched Lisbon walk out of her office.

His mood lightened when he saw her. Because she looked happy.

He’d been afraid that she’d spend the evening obsessing over the fact that she hadn’t been able to solve their latest consult. The fact that it wasn’t even directly her case was irrelevant. Lisbon had an unstoppable urge to fix everything, to make everything better.

Not that he could really fault her for it; he’d benefited from her compulsion himself more than once.

But sometimes she needed to relax. She deserved it.

Besides, she was always more fun when she wasn’t worrying about something she had absolutely no control over.

Not that she always needed to be fun, but... But he liked it better when she wasn’t unhappy.

“I see you’ve capitulated to the allure of a homemade hamburger,” he said neutrally.

“I’ve capitulated to nothing,” Lisbon countered. “I told you, I’m just too lazy to cook.”

“Liar,” Jane said succinctly.

Lisbon raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? That’s what you’re going with?”

Jane looked her over. “Yes,” he admitted after a minute. “That’s exactly what I’m going with. Even if there are elements of the truth to your statement, it’s not the whole truth.”

“There are more than elements of the truth to it,” Lisbon retorted. “I genuinely don’t want to cook. And you should be pleased. You’re always telling me that my usual late-night meals at home alone aren’t healthy. Going out should be something you encourage.”

“Oh, I do encourage it,” Jane agreed. “Just as you’re constantly encouraging me to exercise.”

“Which, as far as I can tell, you never do,” Lisbon interrupted.

Jane ignored her. “But even if you don’t want to cook, you’re conveniently overlooking the other reason that you’re coming to dinner.”

“And what’s that?” Lisbon demanded.

“I think you like me,” Jane said slyly.

Lisbon barely paused. “Of course I like you. God only knows why, you don’t deserve it.”

“Thanks for that,” he said dryly, feeling a little put out.

“You asked for it,” Lisbon reminded him, ignoring her guilt and his sulk. “You couldn’t just let it go.”

“If if buy you dessert, will you forgive me?” Jane asked, semi-seriously.

Lisbon smirked. “I think you’ll buy me dessert either way, if I ask you to.”

Jane leaned forward. “But you won’t ask me to unless you think I deserve a little punishment.”

Lisbon paused, idly wondering (for about the millionth time) why she put up with him. “I want the chocolate cheesecake,” she said eventually.

Jane’s smile lit up the room. “Of course.”

Lisbon glanced sidelong at him as they walked to the elevator together. “Why does every meal with you seem to start with an argument?”

Jane looked down at her affectionately. “Because dear, you’d hate it if I was boring.”

¬She picked up her pace, leaving him a few feet behind her and ignoring his last statement.

Because she also hated it when he was right.

xxx

Dinner was a general success. Lisbon found herself more relaxed. By midmorning the next day, she’d already ordered (okay, technically it’d been a request... okay fine, a bribe) Jane to come up with a series of potential questions for the locals to help them solve the McCleary case.

Since that was done, she was currently going through her e-mail when Director Stephens called her into her office.

Lisbon went willingly of course. The newest Director wasn’t the most animated person in the world, but she was smart, straightforward and competent. She didn’t smirk at you maddeningly. Her interpersonal skills weren’t non-existent, and she didn’t look like she was about twelve. All things considered, Lisbon would willingly admit that, when it came to a boss, Director Stephens could have been much, much worse.

“You wanted to see me, ma’am?” Lisbon said as she walked into the Director’s office.

Director Stephens put down her file. “Agent Lisbon, yes come in,” she said with a welcoming wave of her hand.

Lisbon sat down on the chair opposite the desk and waited. She’d learned early on that trying to rush the conversation would do no good. Director Stephens would only tell you what she planned to tell you when she was good and ready.

“It seems your people are quite popular,” Stephens said in opening.

Lisbon winced, wondering what exactly Jane had done recently that had resulted in a barrage of public complaints. She couldn’t think of anything, meaning that she might have at least a day to prepare for damage control.

Luckily, the Director continued before Lisbon could begin apologizing. “As you might have heard, Agent O’Connor was injured last week in the field. He usually heads the fraud division. That team is still pretty green, and they’re looking for a temporary lead with a bit of experience for the next two or three weeks. I thought Agent Cho would be just the man for the job.”

Lisbon nodded; she couldn’t help but agree. Just because Cho showed no signs of wanting his own team didn’t mean he wasn’t good at leading one.

“After all, he’s a competent agent, and it will give him a good experience in case he ever decides he wants to run his own team,” the Director added.

“Yes, that’s right,” Lisbon agreed, suddenly feeling somewhat subdued. After all, eventually Cho would probably get an offer he couldn’t refuse, and he’d leave her. She’d already had him longer than she had any right to expect.

“And there’s Agent Rigsby,” Stephens said, gesturing to another file on her desk. “The Arson division’s had an illness. Agent Messing should be out for about a month. I think Rigsby should fill the vacancy. He’s familiar with the subject matter and it will give him a bit of an unofficial refresher course, let him update his skills.”

“True,” Lisbon agreed, unsure what else there was to say. It was obvious she wasn’t being asked for her opinion. 

“And Van Pelt has a vacation coming up,” Stephens continued. “I believe she’s planning on taking three weeks starting in a few days?”

“Yes,” Lisbon agreed, panic welling up in her chest. From the sounds of things, her entire team was going to be gone for the better part of a month. What on earth would she and Jane do with themselves? Maybe they were about to be separated and glommed onto different teams too.

“Which makes it particularly convenient timing,“ Stephens finished.

Lisbon blinked. “I’m sorry, ma’am. Convenient timing for what?”

“Actually, we should probably wait for Jane to get here before I tell you,” Stephens admitted.

“Jane?” Lisbon asked. She hadn’t been aware he’d been called to this meeting. _Great._ Just great. That probably meant he really was about to be shipped off somewhere too, while she was given some tedious, bureaucratic task of some kind. She nearly groaned.

At that moment, Lisbon heard the Director’s secretary laugh, right before Jane himself swung into the office. “Hello ladies,” he greeted. “Tanya, Lisbon.”

“Hello Jane,” the director said with a nod. “Have a seat. I was just informing Agent Lisbon that your teammates will be on assignment over the next few weeks.”

“Except for Grace, who’s going on vacation,” Jane supplied.

“Yes, except for Agent Van Pelt,” Director Stephens agreed patiently. “Anyway, that brings me to what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m sure you’ve both heard of the latest serial killer case up in Oregon.”

“Impossible not to,” Lisbon nodded. Even if the California news was only carrying the highlights, the media coverage was still pretty constant. Particularly since there were elements of the case that were more similar than she’d like to the Red John case.

“Well,” Stephens replied. “What you haven’t been told is that in spite of another body being found just a few days ago, the police are no closer to finding the killer than they were three months ago, something that they’re obviously keeping from the public. Trying to prevent mass panic and all that.”

“Understandable,” Lisbon nodded. 

“Especially given that there’s no forensic evidence,” Stephens added with a glance towards the other woman.

Lisbon winced. It was one of the more unfortunate similarities between the two serial killers.

Her boss continued. “No forensic evidence, no eye witnesses. Just a serial killer and a mark on the wall near the victims.”

Lisbon looked up sharply. That particular detail had been kept out of the press.

“Oregon PD is requesting CBI assistance given our expertise solving the Red John case,” Stephens told her.

“Ma’am?” Lisbon asked, beginning to become concerned.

“No one thinks you got the wrong guy six months ago and now he’s back,” the director hastened to assure her. “This isn’t actually Red John. There are enough differences for that. And the guy in Oregon’s not nearly as perfect.”

“Well that's a relief,” Lisbon muttered with a quick glance at Jane, who’d been oddly silent thus far. He had a neutral expression on his face so she had no idea what he was thinking.

Stephens smiled slightly. “Portland PD still requested a consult with Jane though.”

To Lisbon’s surprise, Jane smiled. “Ah.” 

Stephens nodded, “I've got you on a flight out tomorrow morning, if that's alright.”

Lisbon took a deep breath. She’d known this was coming. The next few weeks were seriously going to suck. Still, there was nothing she could do. May as well make the best of it. “It's fine with me, if it's okay with Jane.”

“This isn't sounding much like a request,” Jane said dryly.

“ _Jane,_ ” Lisbon said in warning.

To her surprise, he smiled at her, obviously amused. “ _Lisbon,”_ he relied in the same tone. “But, yes, I'll go.”

Stephens looked obviously relieved. “Great.”

Lisbon ignored her sinking stomach. “How long do the Oregon police think he's going to be gone?”

The director looked confused for a moment, before suddenly smiling. “There seems to be some sort of misunderstanding, Agent Lisbon. You’ll be accompanying him.”

Lisbon looked at her boss blankly. “ _What?_ ” 

Jane was really amused now. He’d suspected that was coming. It was the reason he hadn’t put up a fuss when the assignment was thrust on him. Alone it would have been intolerable, but with travelling on a special assignment with Lisbon while she struggled with the notion of not being in charge of an investigation? That was a whole other thing. “Of course you're coming too, Lisbon,” he told her, his tone patronizing. “Why else would you be in this meeting?”

She scowled at him. “I'm your nominal supervisor?”

Jane grinned. “And also, Tanya is afraid to send me all the way to Oregon without supervision.”

His remark did nothing to placate his direct boss. “Well, of course he is. Who knows what you'd do? You definitely need to be watched.”

Director Stephens decided to take Lisbon’s remark as tacit agreement to the plan. She grabbed a pair of files and handed them to the pair. “Great. I’m glad that’s settled. All the details are written here for you. You both leave tomorrow for three weeks to a month, depending on how things go. Your flight's at 8:30 in the morning”

“Ma’am,” Lisbon tried to object feebly.

The director ignored her. “There have been four deaths already, the last one a week ago, as I’m sure you’ve heard. And as far as I can tell, the Portland PD are no closer to finding the killer than they were when they found the first victim. Oregon wants you,” her boss insisted, before Lisbon could object further. “You two solved the Red John case. You’re the closest thing to experts on this that we’ve got. And given that the rest your team is going to be out of the office for most of the month anyway, I thought it’d be an ideal time for you two to go. You _know_ how much the governor is emphasizing inter-agency cooperation.”

Lisbon pasted a smile on her face. She knew any argument would be fruitless, particularly given that the team was wrapping up the McCleary case and would soon technically be at loose ends. “Of course ma’am.”

“Excellent. I appreciate both of your cooperation,” Director Stephens said cheerfully. “Pack your bags. Tomorrow morning you’re flying out to Oregon!”

“We won’t let you down, Tanya,” Jane said, far too cheerfully in Lisbon’s opinion.

This time it was the Director’s smile that became somewhat strained.

For her part, Lisbon wasn’t sure whether she wanted to laugh or cry.

She supposed it could have been worse. At least she wasn’t being relegated to three weeks of paperwork.

xxx

TBC


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

xxx

Jane gallantly let Lisbon have the window seat for the short plane ride to Portland. Okay, he’d really just let her lead the way onto the plane. He watched as she methodically stowed her bags in the overhead compartment, tucked her briefcase under the seat, and sat down, immediately buckling her seat belt. To the untrained eye, she looked like a confident and seasoned traveller. But Jane’s eye was far from untrained. He had realized long ago that she was hiding behind a professional calm. After all, it wouldn’t do for anyone to see Agent Lisbon looking nervous to _fly._

But nervous she was, even though she undoubtedly knew her nerves were illogical. She wasn’t about to start gripping the hand rail or hyperventilating, but Jane knew that Lisbon would rather drive to her destination rather than fly any day. He suspected it had a lot to do with the uncertainty of leaving the ground coupled with the fact that flying requiring her to put her life in someone else’s hands.

After all, she hated it when other people drove her _car_. In a plane, driving herself wasn’t an option.

Jane settled down beside her, amused by her subtle shuffling in her seat.

He opened a bag of jelly beans and held it out to her. The sugar would soothe and distract her.

“You don’t need to worry,” he told her.

“Hmm?” Lisbon asked, glancing over sharply.

“It’s not a punishment,” Jane assured her, amused by the brief hint of panic in her voice. She really thought he hadn’t noticed her nerves yet. It was adorable. “This trip I mean. Your team’s not being broken up.”

“I didn’t think it was,” Lisbon replied.

“After all,” Jane continued. “Why would the Director break up your team? That would be foolish given our closed case percentage. Unless someone asked for a transfer, which, you know as well as I do, no one did.”

“ _I know that,_ ” Lisbon insisted. “So why did you bring it up?”

Jane shrugged. “Just wanted to make sure.”

“Thanks so much,” she grumbled. 

Jane kept his expression deliberately blank. “You’re welcome.”

“If you could try not to borrow trouble for the rest of the flight, that’d be great,” Lisbon added peevishly.

Jane nodded. “Just trying to be helpful.”

“Ha!” Lisbon harrumphed under her breath.

Jane watched out of the corner of his eye as she continued to grumble. He caught the words, “meddling consultant,” “irritating,” “paranoid,” “nothing but trouble,” and “what does he know anyway?” In fact, Lisbon was so distracted by her annoyance towards him that she even barely noticed the takeoff.

Jane allowed himself a mental smile.

“I just meant that you should be proud of your team’s achievements, is all Lisbon,” he told her once the plane had levelled off in the air.

She looked at him suspiciously.

“You’re good at your job,” he insisted. “Stephens likes you and your team. Your record speaks for itself. Your team is quietly devoted to you. And you helped bring down the most dangerous serial killer in the state. Really, this trip is far from a punishment. We’re being sent to help others because we’re so good.”

Lisbon was watching him closely, a faint blush on her cheeks. She was obviously trying to determine if he was being sincere or not. “Well, that’s why Oregon wants _you_ at least,” she said finally. “You’re the Red John expert. I expect I’ve been sent along to prevent a major inter-jurisdictional incident.”

Jane grinned. “You’ve always had a moderating effect on me.”

Lisbon rolled her eyes.

“Still, you shouldn’t sell yourself short, dear,” he added.

She shook her head. “Shut up,” she said, before pulling out a magazine.

Thoroughly satisfied with their exchange, Jane shut his eyes and tried to take a nap.

xxx

About half an hour later, Jane suddenly realized he was being watched.

He opened his eyes, catching Lisbon examining him intently.

“What?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

But Jane wasn’t buying it. “Come one.”

She took a deep breath. “How are you?” she asked.

Jane frowned. Were they really back to this now? He’d thought the frequency of her concern was going down. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Lisbon hesitated. “Well, I just thought, y’know, with this case. The killer _is_ constantly being compared to Red John. I know it’s been months, but...”

Jane exhaled slowly; he really should have known this conversation was coming. “I’m fine.”

“Are you?” she asked sceptically.

“Yes,” he assured her. “You forget Lisbon, this isn’t actually Red John.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” she said dryly.

“Figure of speech,” Jane said dismissively. “What I meant was, we both know that Red John’s dead. We made very sure about that. Is it mildly nauseating that someone would wish to emulate him? Of course. But all serial killers are at least mildly nauseating, aren’t they? It’s a feeling that comes with this job. We’re constantly surrounded by people who decide that, for whatever reason, it’s okay to take another person’s life. This sort of thing was inevitable. Red John had so many followers. But I’m not conflating the two cases in my head, Teresa. I can assure you that I’m keeping them very separate.”

“Okay,” Lisbon whispered.

“Okay,” Jane nodded.

“But you will tell me if it becomes...” she bit her lip. “I mean, if you’re overwhelmed, or even if you just need someone to talk to.”

Jane smiled in affectionate exasperation. “Don’t I always?”

“No,” Lisbon said bluntly.

Jane paused. “Fine,” he said after a moment. “If I feel myself slipping towards the edge, I’ll try to remember to let you know. But Lisbon, as of right now, I’m relatively calm.”

“Okay,” Lisbon said softly. “You can go back to your nap now.”

“Thank you,” Jane murmured as he shut his eyes, trying to ignore the feeling of hers on him.

Lisbon was still watching him off and on, though she was trying not to. It was hard not to worry though. After all, while the two cases weren’t exactly the same, from what she’d read of the Portland PD’s files on the case, there were several obvious similarities to Red John. Only female victims (Red John had killed men too, but only for very specific reasons, all personal. His preference had certainly been women), no sexual assault, no forensic evidence, images painted on the walls above the bodies... It would be only natural for Jane to have some kind of reaction to it all. She’d be worried if he hadn’t been affected.

And while she didn’t actually expect him to show his feelings, that didn’t mean that they didn’t exist. She’d have to keep an eye on him. She’d worked too hard to get them both through Red John, and Jane had been doing so well.

This case wouldn’t be the thing that sent him into a tailspin. She wouldn’t allow it.

xxx

They were met at the airport by a member of the Portland PD holding a placard with “Agent Teresa Lisbon and Patrick Jane,” written on it.

Jane heard Lisbon take a quiet breath (something which made him smile to himself). Then she strode over to the man who was obviously intended to be their chaperone.

The man’s smile turned friendly as she approached. “Agent Lisbon, I presume,” he said in what was obviously intended to be welcoming. Then his eyes flickered to Jane. “And you must be Patrick Jane. Detective Murray Samson, Portland PD,” he added, holding out a hand.

Lisbon shook it with a smile. “Nice to meet you, Detective. Teresa Lisbon. We appreciate you coming to pick us up at the airport.”

The Detective shrugged. “Least I could do, seeing as we also told you not to rent a car. Now, I’m assuming that since you’re meant to be here for a few weeks and neither of you are carrying much, that you did check luggage?”

Lisbon laughed, and nodded.

“Well, come on then,” he told her. “Let’s go pick it up. Then I can take you to your home base for your stay in Oregon. I hope, in spite of everything, that it’s a good one. Or as good as it can be.”

“Let’s get to it,” Lisbon agreed, while Jane followed in silence, quite happy to let the cops take care of the formalities for the time being.

xxx

After driving for just over a half an hour, during which Detective Samson considerately pointed out the local amenities that might be useful to them while skillfully avoiding Lisbon’s questions about their rooming arrangements, they pulled up in front of a nondescript bungalow not far from the downtown.

Lisbon looked over at the detective, eyebrow raised.

He smiled self-deprecatingly. “Look, I know it’s not the usual police accommodations, but budgets are tight all over. We usually use this place for undercover work or to keep a witness under wraps. It’s not being used right now, so we figured since we’re already paying for it, you guys could stay here while you’re helping us out. It’s furnished, and there’s a fully functional kitchen. We’ll pay for your groceries, and we’ve already put some necessities in the fridge. There are three bedrooms, so you two can duke it out amongst yourselves to decide who gets the master. And last I heard the neighbours were friendly. I hope it’s okay.”

Lisbon was staring at the man, obviously unprepared for this particular turn of events. Jane was beaming from ear to ear. It seemed they’d be having a sleepover.

“Uh, I’m sure it’s fine,” Lisbon said after a minute.

“Sounds cozy,” Jane added, his voice chipper. From his perspective anything this unexpected was automatically worth it for the amusement value alone. Plus, he was enjoying Lisbon’s obvious attempts at maintaining a tactful expression on her face. He wondered what horrors were really running through her mind. He was sure she assumed he got up to all manner of crazy things when he wasn’t at the CBI. “Also, I assume this is connected to why we didn’t need to pick up a rental car.”

Detective Samson grinned at him in thanks and tossed him a set of keys.

Lisbon intercepted them midway, grabbing them out of the air.

Detective Samson raised an eyebrow. Jane just shrugged. “I suppose it’s too much to ask that the car be something with a little character?” he asked hopefully. He had a feeling he was going to miss the Citroen.

Samson laughed as they stepped out of the car. “Sorry, Mr. Jane.”

“Dark SUV?” Jane confirmed with a sigh.

Samson nodded. “But, since the house isn’t usually used for typical police ops, we did mix it up a bit with the colour.”

Jane nodded. “Navy blue instead of black?” he guessed.

Samson grinned again. “Absolutely.”

Lisbon smirked. “He’ll get over it. It all sounds lovely.”

Samson nodded in obvious relief. “Thanks, Agent Lisbon. I know it’s not typical, but like I said, the current budget being what it is...”

“And our being here is hardly traditional anyway,” Jane added.

“What are you talking about, Jane?” Lisbon asked with a tone of exaggerated politeness. “We at the CBI always love to help out fellow law enforcement professionals.”

She and Samson shared a brief look.

“I’ll go unlock the doors,” he said dryly.

“We’ll get our stuff,” Lisbon nodded, heading towards the trunk, Jane trailing after her.

“So Roomie,” Jane said as she reached for her suitcase.

“Oh, don’t start,” she said, attempting a glare.

Jane grinned. “What are you talking about, Lisbon? We are going to be roommates, of a sort. At least for the next few weeks.”

“Yeah, so?” she grumbled, as she grabbed her suitcase, and tossed her smaller bag over her shoulder.

“Don’t you think we should discuss this a little?” Jane wondered, his tone far too cheerful, at least in Lisbon’s opinion.

“What is there to discuss?” she wondered. “I think we can share a kitchen for a couple of weeks without too much trouble.”

“Oh, it’ll be more than the kitchen,” Jane replied, still unbelievably cheerfully. “Several other rooms I’d imagine as well. Unless this house is the oddest one ever built and is nothing but kitchen and bedrooms.”

She sighed. “Fine. A kitchen and several other rooms. What does it matter? We’ve spent almost a week in adjoining motel rooms before. We’ve spent nights undercover in my SUV. I’m guessing this’ll be more comfortable than that at least.”

“Hm,” Jane hummed. “I suppose that’s true. And I can assure you that I’m tidy, Lisbon. Won’t leave my stuff lying around everywhere, or anything. So you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Well, that’s a load off my mind,” Lisbon said dryly.

Jane grinned. “I’m pretty sure I don’t snore.”

“You also often don’t sleep,” Lisbon pointed out.

“I sleep,” Jane insisted. “Most of the time at least.”

“Well, if I hear a prowler, I’ll be sure to make sure it’s not you before I shoot then,” Lisbon replied.

“I appreciate that, Lisbon,” Jane agreed. “Although, that’s given me a thought. We should divide up house responsibilities. You can be in charge of home defence.”

Lisbon rolled her eyes. “You foreseeing an attack while we’re here? This place’s way safer-looking than that dump of a motel you usually stay in.”

Jane shook his head. “My hotel is not that bad.”

“Ha!”

Jane continued, ignoring her, “And while I’m not anticipating a break in, there are some who would say that you can never be too careful. And I thought you’d be happier if you had a job.”

Lisbon smirked in spite of herself. “And what’s your job going to be, may I ask?”

Jane grinned. “I can be in charge of making the tea.”

“Very selfless of you,” Lisbon replied.

“I can make coffee too, if you like,” Jane offered.

Lisbon glanced over, surprised by the offer. She smiled shyly. “Thanks.”

They walked to the front door companionably, and politely let Detective Samson show them around. He dropped off the keys and left them to get settled, telling them they weren’t expected at the station for about an hour.

Lisbon set down her bag, glancing around. It wasn’t bad. Not flashy or anything, but clean and neat. And the decor wasn’t straight out of the seventies like she’d feared it would be. There was nary a shag carpet or a hideous orange colour in sight. They would have everything they needed.

Jane, after surveying the kitchen and family room seemed to have reached the same conclusion.

“You should take the master bedroom,” he said walking up behind her.

Lisbon sighed. “Don’t be ridiculous, just because I’m a woman...”

“Who said it was because you were a woman?” Jane asked curiously.

Lisbon stared at him for a second. “I just assumed you were being chivalrous.” He often was, in an odd kind of way.

“Maybe I feared for my job,” Jane suggested. “You are the agent in charge after all.”

“Ah yes, because through the years, _all_ of your actions have clearly been governed by a fear of rousing my displeasure,” Lisbon said sarcastically.

Jane smiled. “Okay, fine. But you are still _technically_ the boss.”

“Thanks for that,” she replied. “But like I said, I don’t mind taking a smaller bedroom.”

“But I’m an insomniac,” Jane argued, obviously enjoying her stubbornness. “It doesn’t make sense for me to have the nicest bedroom if I’m not going to use it.”

“What happened to _I sleep most of the time?_ ” Lisbon wondered.

“I do,” Jane insisted. “But I’m still more likely to have trouble sleeping than you are.”

“Maybe you’ll sleep better in a more comfortable room,” Lisbon couldn’t resist pointing out.

“That hasn’t been my experience,” Jane admitted.

“Fine, we’ll do this the fair way,” Lisbon said after a moment.

“And what’s that?” Jane wondered. “You just taking the room?”

“No. We’ll flip a coin,” Lisbon insisted, fishing in her pocket for a coin.

“That’s sweet, Lisbon,” Jane told her. 

“Thanks,” she said sounding proud of herself.

“No, I meant that you think I can’t rig a coin toss,” he clarified.

She met his eyes. “Even if I toss the coin?” she asked, skeptically.

He raised an eyebrow.

Lisbon sighed. “Fine, I’ll take the master.”

Jane grinned. “That’s my girl.”

xxx

After settling in (and poking around the house a bit more), the pair headed to the station.

“You know, if you’re uncomfortable driving a car that’s brighter than black, I’d be happy to take over driving privileges until you adapt,” Jane told his companion as he buckled himself into the passenger seat.

Lisbon glared at him. “I’ll manage,” she replied, buckling herself in.

Jane nodded. “So!” he said cheerfully. “First day of the new temporary assignment. Nervous?”

“No.”

“There’s no need for it,” Jane continued blithely. “I’m sure they’ll love you. Or at the very least, they’ll respect what we bring to the table, our serial killer expertise and all that.”

“Great,” Lisbon said in a monotone, pausing to wonder exactly when she’d _gotten_ serial killer expertise.

Jane obviously had no such mental concerns, “I’m sure they’re excited to meet us, really chomping at the bit waiting for our arrival.”

Lisbon sighed. “I’ll bet.”

But the odd thing was, she was nervous. Nervous and excited. It’d been a long time since she’d had a new challenge (other than the near daily troubles Jane brought almost by virtue of his existence). In an odd kind of way, she was almost looking forward to the change of pace. She just hoped to god that Jane didn’t irritate the locals on sight. He’d done fairly well with Detective Samson, but that meant nothing.

Especially if the locals weren’t quite as excited to have the two of them as her boss and the governor had intimated.

xxx

In spite of her earlier scepticism, Lisbon was pleasantly surprised by the welcome she and Jane received from the Portland police force. The curt but polite greeting she received from Chief MacNamara may not have looked encouraging, but given that she was potentially stepping all over their jurisdiction, anything above open hostility was welcome under the circumstances. And the general reaction was polite curiosity. The population of Oregon was frustrated and frightened, and at this point any help was welcome. 

Upon their arrival, Lisbon and Jane were assigned a place to work in a room in the corner of the station (Jane winced when he saw two desks with nothing even resembling a couch in sight). Lisbon had to stifle her chuckle. The chief also informed them that their local liaisons with would be Detective Samson, whom they’d already met, and Detective Josephine Frasier.

Lisbon examined the woman subtly as they were introduced. Roughly forty, tall, and thin, her brown hair tied ruthlessly back into a ponytail from which it was trying to escape, obviously confident, with eyes that didn’t look like they missed much, Detective Frasier would have looked almost intimidating, had it not been for the smile constantly playing about the edges of her mouth and the look of genuine welcome she’d sent Lisbon earlier. The fact that her eyebrows had nearly shot straight to her hairline in bemusement when she met Jane only solidified Lisbon’s conviction that she was going to like her local liaison very much indeed.

“Alright, Agent Lisbon,” she said when Chief MacNamara had left them (only after impressing upon them how vital interagency cooperation would be in catching this, Oregon’s most dangerous serial killer, and how he hoped their two agencies could work together harmoniously while barely giving Lisbon an opportunity to make the appropriate noises in response). “Do you need time to settle in, or do you want to jump right to it?”

After confirming with a brief glance at Jane, Lisbon smiled. “Let’s get to it, Detective.”

“Please, call me Jo,” Frasier insisted.

“Only if you drop the Agent,” Lisbon replied. Then, realizing how that could might have sounded she continued awkwardly. “I suppose you could call me Teresa, but almost no one ever does…”

“No, they don’t,” Jane murmured beside her, effectively cutting off her rambling. “That’s true. Interesting. It must be odd, never hearing your first name on any given day. If you like, I could start using it more regularly.”

“Oh, hush Jane,” she replied, ignoring the obvious amusement of the two detectives. “What’re we dealing with here, Jo?”

“I assume you were briefed beforehand,” she replied.

Lisbon nodded. “Yeah, but mostly just broad strokes. The file I read on the way over didn’t have a lot of details beyond what’s already been on the news.”

She noticed that Jane hadn’t put his two cents in. In fact, he seemed perfectly content to let her do the talking. She knew his silence probably meant that he was paying particular attention to what was going on around him.

As it happened, Lisbon was right. Jane was watching the trio of law enforcement professionals in front of him. All in all, he found himself quite pleased with their local counterparts. Samson appeared to be a steady sort. Friendly, laid back, didn’t trouble himself to put himself forward all the time, but Jane suspected intelligent enough beneath it all. Certainly not the type to create a problem, and already positively disposed towards Lisbon, at least if the admiring glances he kept sending her way were anything to go by. Jane would have been concerned about that, except that the male Detective was also rather obviously happily married. And as for Detective Josephine, or Jo, Frasier, well, Jane would bet his couch that she and Lisbon would be fast friends in less than twenty-four hours.

Detective Frasier may have been more outwardly friendly than Lisbon herself, and while her fashion choices were somewhat questionable (at least to Jane’s mind), she practically exuded competence and common sense. Add that to a generally cheerful demeanour and Jane had high hopes for their time in Oregon.

He took the file the Detective handed him with a nod, and tuned back into the conversation, just in time to hear the highlights of the case.

“Four women have been found dead already, the latest just a few days ago. All killed in the same way, a gunshot to the chest.”

“Same calibre weapon?” Lisbon checked.

Jo nodded. “But not the same gun, which is always left at the scene, completely wiped down, no serial number, no identifying marks. We’ve had forensics check and double-check, even sent the latest to the FBI crime lab after our guys turned up nothing, just in case.”

“Odd that he’d leave the gun at the scene,” Lisbon murmured. “Especially since it means he has to go to the trouble of obtaining another one exactly the same and getting rid of the serial.”

“Yeah, it’s obviously significant, somehow,” Jo agreed. “But we haven’t come up with much.”

“It is interesting,” Jane murmured.

Jo glanced at him, obviously not quite knowing what to make of him. After a second she continued. “No other obvious damage to the women, other than the odd bruise. The bodies were all been moved and placed on the centre of a bed.”

“But not always their own bed,” Lisbon added, flipping through the file.

“No,” the Detective agreed. “Second victim was found in an abandoned apartment. The bed was the only thing in the room. And they’re all found beneath the eye. Always the same eye; you can see a picture in your files. Always directly above the body. While the gun is always placed near the victim’s right hand, but not close enough to try and make it look like suicide. And never any forensic evidence or obvious sign of forced entry.”

“Do you have any idea how he’s getting in?” Lisbon asked.

The Detective winced. “Right now, best guess is through windows left open to deal with the summer heat or through unlocked doors.”

Lisbon nodded.

“So, you’ve got a guy who waits until the women are alone, gets in without leaving a trace, leaves no forensic evidence, shoots the women in the chest, ditches his murder weapon, and places them out on display beneath an all-seeing eye,” Jane summarized.

“You can see why we called you two in,” Samson said dryly, speaking for the first time.

“Yeah,” Jane breathed. There were enough differences to keep him from panicking, but some of the similarities were striking. The lack of forensic evidence, the pageantry involved in the way the body was displayed, the mark above it...

“I’ll leave you to go through the files for the afternoon,” Jo told her. “If you like, we can arrange for you to visit last week’s crime scene tomorrow. We left it undisturbed when we heard you’d be coming.”

“I would like,” Jane said bluntly.

Jo’s eyes narrowed slightly, obviously finding Jane a bit off-putting, but she nodded.

“We’ll also want to re-interview some of the witnesses at some point,” Lisbon added. “Once we’ve caught up on the files of course.”

“That can be arranged,” Jo agreed slowly. “If you think it’s necessary.”

Lisbon nodded. “I’m sorry, but it almost certainly will be.”

Jo sighed. “I figured as much. Probably easier to start with the more recent victims,” she murmured. “We’ll give it a couple of days, let me sort a couple things out.”

“Sure,” Lisbon agreed.

“I read visual cues,” Jane told her suddenly.

Jo glanced over. “Hmm?” she asked, distracted.

“I read visual cues,” Jane repeated. “For example, right now, based on your demeanor, I can tell that you’re reluctant to let us re-interview your witnesses and family members, not because you don’t like us, or resent the fact that we’re here on your turf, but because you’re worried about the effect on the families who’ve already lost someone. Don’t want to open old wounds and all that. The fact is, you like Lisbon, and you trust her, though you probably wouldn’t be able to give a solid reason why, other than because she’s obviously competent given that she helped take down California’s worst serial killer this decade. You’re less certain about me, please don’t try and deny it. Everybody always is. You’re not sure what I’m going to do. I’m obviously not a cop, but you’re willing to give me the benefit of the doubt, for now. Don’t worry, I’m used to that too, and it’s more than a lot of cops give me. And you’re getting frustrated, and feeling helpless, but you’re trying to be friendly. Because you know that we’re here to help.”

Jo was staring at him when he finished. “Well,” she said inadequately, glancing at Lisbon.

Lisbon just rolled her eyes. “Jane, stop showing off,” she ordered.

“I wasn’t showing off,” he insisted. “I was making a point. I thought it would save time, and explain why it’s so important that we re-interview the witnesses. You know as well as I do that I’ll be much more effective if I can actually observe the family members.”

“You were also showing off,” she countered. “He’s always like that,” she told Jo. “And yeah, he’s also annoying as hell, but he does close a lot of cases; I promise you that.”

“So he’s worth putting up with,” Samson interjected.

Lisbon grinned tentatively. “Most days.”

“I’ll go see about setting up those interviews for later in the week,” Jo said weakly. “Call me if you need anything.”

“Call either of us,” Samson corrected as he followed her out. “And again, welcome to Oregon.”

After the door shut, Jane turned to her, a grin on his face. “Well, I think that went well.”

xxx

TBC


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

xxx

After a long afternoon of files, Lisbon was the one to finally suggest that they leave for the night.

Okay, technically it had been Detective Samson, when he’d ducked a head into the room they’d been assigned and reminded them that they didn’t need to catch up on four murders worth of files, witness statements and evidence logs in one afternoon. Lisbon had smiled and made a polite response. Jane had waved a hand from where he was lying in the centre on the floor.

If the Detective had thought the position odd, he tactfully hadn’t said anything. He had however, been more than happy to suggest a good Thai place nearby when Lisbon asked.

Lisbon and Jane picked up their Thai food, discussing the case while they ate it. It’d all felt surprisingly normal, like they’d done it a million times. Which they had of course. The rest of the team was usually present for these discussions over meal, but that hadn’t been a significant change. Or at least, it hadn’t felt like it.

Eventually dinner was over though.

And neither of them had a case to go back to, or their own hotel rooms to retreat into.

That’s when things had started to get awkward.

Jane had tried to pretend that they weren’t, at least outwardly.

But they were. Because even though it wasn’t uncommon for the two of them to linger later than the others after dinner, chatting about the case (or really about anything), they were always aware that they always had their own hotel rooms to go to afterwards.

This time they didn’t have that luxury.

Well, Jane supposed that they _did_ , but retreating into separate bedrooms at 9pm certainly wouldn’t help the awkwardness factor. Particularly since, unlike motel rooms, the bungalow’s bedrooms didn’t have televisions.

Televisions. Jane grinned. Of course. Why hadn’t he thought of that before? He needed to act fast, because Lisbon was running out of things to fidget with in the Thai food.

“Wanna see if there’s anything on TV once we get this stuff put away?” he asked casually as he stood, gathering the empty take-out containers to throw them out, essentially putting a stop to Lisbon’s compulsive straightening.

She flinched, before suddenly relaxing. “Sure,” she told him with a smile. She stood to help him clear up the remains of their dinner, but he waved her away.

“I’ve got this,” he told her. “Why don’t you see what’s on?”

Lisbon started to argue, before deciding not to. If Jane wanted to clean up, she supposed she could let him. Instead, she just stretched and wandered into their living room. It took her a few minutes to figure out how to turn on the television, but was pleasantly surprised to find that they did in fact have cable. She’d been worried that the police budget might not stretch that far. Although, she’d gathered from the locals that this house was almost always occupied for some reason or other, so she supposed investing in at least basic cable made sense. 

Lisbon started flicking through the channels, searching for something that looked interesting.

“Find anything?” Jane asked, walking up behind her.

Lisbon shifted over on the couch so that he could sit next to her. “Nope.”

“Hmm,” was all Jane said in response, watching as she flipped through a series of procedural dramas, night-time soaps, and reruns.

“I’m guessing you don’t want to watch a rerun of Law and Order, or something,” Lisbon murmured. “There’s probably one of those somewhere.”

Jane glanced at her. “Come on Lisbon, surely we can do better than _that._ ”

Lisbon shook her head slightly. “I don’t know...” That was when she clicked onto the Turner Classic Movie channel and she saw it. “ _Oh._ ”

Jane grinned. “Ah ha! There we go. I told you there’d be something,” he crowed triumphantly.

Lisbon blushed slightly. “We don’t... I mean... We don’t have to watch this, if you don’t want to.”

Jane shook his head, settling into the (surprisingly comfortable) couch cushions. “Nonsense. What is it?”

“The Shop Around the Corner,” she murmured.

“You’ve seen it before, I assume,” Jane said, his eyes twinkling.

“At least a dozen times,” Lisbon admitted.

“Well then, I guess it’s high time I find out what I’ve been missing all these years,” Jane told her. “What’s it about?”

“Actually, it’s only about ten minutes in,” Lisbon told him. “So you haven’t missed much. It’s about a group of people who work in a store. Two of them really don’t like each other...”

“I’m guessing they get over that particular hiccup by the conclusion,” Jane interjected dryly.

Lisbon’s blush deepened and she poked him in the side. “Yeah,” she admitted. “They’ve also both got pen pals that they’re half in love with.”

“Right. I wonder how this movie could _possibly_ end,” Jane said with a chuckle.

“I know, it’s a bit predictable,” Lisbon admitted. “But I love it anyway. It’s the movie You’ve Got Mail is based on. Or one of them at least. I think there’s actually another even earlier movie version of the same story.”

Jane put his feet up on the coffee table. “Well, why don’t we stick with this one, at least for tonight.”

Lisbon smiled, and setting the remote down, eased back against the cushions to enjoy the movie.

Jane found he enjoyed it more than he’d expected to. It’d been a long time since he’d done this, just sat down and watched a movie with someone. The closest he’d come was the time he and Lisbon had spent six hours going through security video looking for a clue to finding Red John.

This wasn’t anything like that, even if his companion was the same.

This was nice. The movie was pretty good, even if it was predictable. It was obvious that Lisbon was enjoying herself, and the activity had succeeded in getting rid of any residual awkwardness around their new living situation. Really, Jane was quite pleased with the way the evening had turned out.

Besides, it was nice having someone around for a change, even if it was just to watch television with.

He had a feeling this living together might be even more fun than he’d expected.

xxx

Lisbon tried not to feel awkward again the next morning. 

She tried, but didn’t quite succeed.

The evening before had been reasonably normal. She and Jane had eaten dinner and watched a movie. Then they’d split up for the night, both going about their night-time routines in their separate rooms. At least, that was what she’d assumed Jane had done.

She’d been fine last night, other than a briefly awkward moment after dinner while she wondered what on earth they were going to _do_ for the rest of the evening. But for some reason, this morning she was acutely aware that she was sharing a house with _Jane_ of all people. That if she went downstairs, he’d probably be there. That he’d slept in the next room. She wasn’t sure why it was different. They had slept in adjoining motel rooms before after all, but somehow, it just _was_.

Or maybe she the reason she was feeling unsettled had more to do with the fact that it was six thirty in the morning. Hard to say.

Lisbon groaned and hauled herself out of bed (after briefly wondering whether she could steal another fifteen minutes in bed). Still, she forced herself to get up, even if snuggling back into the surprisingly comfortable bed had been oh so tempting. She started going through her things trying to figure out what to wear. She hadn’t heard Jane yet, although that didn’t mean much. The man could be almost cat-like when he wanted to be. The thought made her scowl.

Lunatic could well be standing outside her door, trying to figure out if she was awake. Or to greet her with some annoyingly cheerful greeting. She wouldn’t put it past him. He probably thought this was funny. 

Whatever he was doing, he’d better not startle her before she’d had her coffee.

She still couldn’t hear him, so she wasn’t sure what he was up to, but she wasn’t about to go poking her nose into it. She wasn’t his mother. She also wasn’t in the mood to deal with him at the moment. It was far too early in the morning. She needed caffeine. She trusted that he could get himself ready. Who even knew what his morning routine entailed. Judging by the state he was in some mornings when he got into work (if he’d bothered to leave the building at all the night before), she doubted it was extensive.

It wasn’t until she was getting dressed after her shower that she noticed it.

She could definitely smell coffee.

Biting her lip in sudden (and unexpected) pleasure, Lisbon made her way to the kitchen to find Jane standing at the stove, a cup of tea beside him.

“Coffee’s made,” he told her.

“You really made me coffee,” Lisbon murmured.

“I told you I would,” he reminded her.

She shrugged as she grabbed a mug, oddly pleased by the gesture. “I guess you did. Thanks.” She started rummaging through the cupboards, searching for something to eat. 

Jane grinned at her sideways. It seemed his Lisbon wasn’t the most observant person first thing in the morning. Not that that was a surprise. He’d met her at a crime scene before six am more than once. Her glares always held particular venom before seven in the morning. After that the anger seemed to decrease with each passing hour. “Does that mean you don’t want pancakes?” he asked as he poured oil onto the frying pan.

“What?” Lisbon asked, spinning around in surprise.

Jane studiously ignored her, concentrating instead on pouring the already-mixed batter into the warm pan. “Pancakes,” he repeated calmly. “They’re chocolate chip.”

“Chocolate chip...” she repeated quietly, and Jane couldn’t resist a quick glance in her direction. Her eyes were wide, fixed on the pan, covetous and off-balance. He smiled to himself.

A half a second later, Lisbon remembered herself. “You made me pancakes?” she double-checked.

“Mmhm,” Jane agreed.

“Why?” she asked before she could stop herself.

Jane’s grin turned wicked and he spun to face her. “To celebrate our first night together, Dear.”

The sputter of coffee was entirely worth the smack in the arm that followed it. The blush rising on her cheeks was just a bonus. “You enjoy doing that far too much,” she told him.

“Doing what?” he asked, sounding innocent.

He knew she didn’t buy his act. “Trying to make me uncomfortable.”

“Your blush tells me that I’ve succeeded,” he pointed out.

Lisbon took a deep breath and decided to ignore him. He was making her pancakes after all. “Does this mean you’re going to serve me too,” she asked. “Because I could get used to that.”

Jane smirked. “I suppose, since it’s a special occasion.”

“Excellent,” she said, taking her coffee and walking over to the table.

“I got the paper,” Jane told her. “I’m in the middle of the front section, but you can have the local news or business if you want.”

Lisbon sorted through the paper and grabbed the sports section.

Jane hid a smile behind his mug. He’d figured as much.

Lisbon caught his grin anyway. “There are rumours of potential hockey trades,” she told him self-consciously.

Jane nodded, as he brought her a plate of pancakes. “And that’s far more fun than checking to see if there’s any mention of our case in the media.”

Lisbon growled. “Jane, I haven’t even had my coffee yet.”

With that Lisbon snatched her favourite section, grabbed entertainment as well as an afterthought, dropped into her chair. She mulishly reached for the syrup and poured it on her pancakes, all while mentally grumbling about her irritating consultant.

Jane watched her go out of the corner of his eye, careful to keep his smile from widening. The coffee and pancakes may have pacified (and surprised) her, but it’d be at least a half an hour until she was halfway human. He grinned internally. Probably a good thing the locals hadn’t stocked the kitchen with decaf. That may have been a temptation too sweet to refuse. 

And he’d really have hated the inevitable lost limb that would have resulted from it.

xxx

After breakfast, the two of them headed to the Portland police station. Jane let Lisbon drive without comment, something that seemed to cheer her up slightly. She even thanked him for the pancakes a second time.

They were greeted by their local liaisons. Samson double-checked that the bungalow was working out for them, while Jo moved straight to business after a quick hello. She told them that they were expected at the crime scene that morning and suggested a meeting afterwards to fill them in on the details of the case that didn’t make it into the case files, personal impressions, that sort of thing.

Lisbon agreed readily, assuring the other woman that she’d give her a call when they were done at the crime scene. Then, as planned, she and Jane headed to the latest victim’s apartment where she’d been found by her boyfriend.

Unfortunately the other crime scenes had long since been cleaned. They’d already been processed and the space was often needed, either by a landlord or the owners who no longer wanted the reminder. The only reason the scene they were currently visited hadn’t received the same treatment was that the victim’s relatives still weren’t up to entering.

“Something’s not right,” Jane said almost immediately as he walked into the room.

“What?” Lisbon asked as she followed him.

“Something’s not right,” he repeated, turning towards her.

Lisbon shook her head slightly. “No, I heard you. What’s not right?”

Jane continued to glance around the room. “I’m not sure yet,” he admitted.

“Okay,” Lisbon agreed as she put on her gloves. “He certainly staged everything meticulously,” she observed. “Not a thing out of place.”

“No,” Jane replied absently.

“And crime scene photos place the victim on the exact centre of the bed,” Lisbon continued. “All of the victims actually.”

“Everything is staged,” Jane said slowly. “Planned, according to his…”

“Jane?” Lisbon prompted when he trailed off.

“He’s not Red John,” Jane murmured.

Lisbon’s heart started to thump, an indistinct sort of terror rising in her chest. Maybe this case would finally be too much for him. She shouldn’t have allowed this. Shouldn’t have brought him here... “Jane?” she asked again, reaching for his elbow. “You okay?”

Her touch jolted him out of his reverie. He turned towards her, experiencing an odd flash of guilt when he saw the concern on her face.

“Oh! _No,_ ” he assured her running his hand down the arm not wrapped around his elbow in an attempt to comfort her. “No, Lisbon. That’s not what I meant. I just… the locals think he’s a Red John copycat, and he is, in a way, but it’s not right.”

Lisbon exhaled slowly, trying to force herself to calm down by focussing on the situation at hand. “What’s not right?”

“The copying, the approach to it,” Jane explained.

“How so?” she asked, feeling on more solid ground. This was fine. She could do this. This was what they did. Jane made odd, cryptic statements, and she prodded him until he told her what she wanted to know. She’d realized not long ago that he wasn’t always doing it to mess with her; sometimes her prodding helped him sort out his thoughts in his head. (Of course, sometimes he _was_ just doing it to mess with her.)

“The relationship to the murder’s different,” Jane murmured.

“Well, that’s to be expected, isn’t it? With a different killer?” Lisbon asked.

“Hm, I suppose,” Jane agreed. “But if he was a true copycat, you’d think it would matter. If he was only doing this in homage to Red John, I mean.”

Lisbon paused, considering his statement. “That makes sense.”

“Red John was all about the fear and the power,” Jane added. “This guy’s about something else, even if he’s using Red John’s general model. It’s about power, but it’s something else too.”

“What makes you say that?” Lisbon wondered.

Jane glanced around the room, trying to explain. “Well, for one, the eye. Look at it.”

“I see it,” Lisbon told him, staring at the eye painted in black above the headboard. “Looks pretty scary to me.”

“Well sure,” Jane agreed. “But only because you know what it _is._ It wouldn’t be scary to whomever found the body. Red John’s smiley face, it was scary because you always saw it _before_ you saw the body. It was the first thing you saw when you walked in the room. Here, you always see the body first. Or at least, at the same time as the eye. It’s not painted to be the first thing you see when you walk it. It’s always painted directly over the bed, over the body.”

“That’s true,” Lisbon agreed. “So if this guy isn’t all about fear, then what is he all about?”

“Precision,” Jane said slowly as he spun around. “The eye’s always the same height above the body, always in the same spot. They’re always in exactly the same position, the same gun. There’s never even a shred of forensics. He’s precise, each and every time.”

“Which explains why the gun is always the same model,” Lisbon murmured. “Even if he always uses a new one.”

“Mmhm,” Jane agreed. 

“Gunshot’s always clean,” Lisbon told him. “Doesn’t seem very personal.”

“Definitely less personal than Red John’s preference, the knife,” Jane agreed. “I’m guessing the killer doesn’t feel particularly strongly about these women one way or another. I mean, not these specific women at least.”

“Except for maybe his first victim,” Lisbon agreed. “Lucy Ferris. First victims are usually significant after all.”

“Maybe,” Jane agreed.

Lisbon kept quiet as she watched him walk around, knowing better than to interrupt. He was obviously thinking something over. Something was still bothering him, and he wasn’t ready to talk about it. He still needed to go over it in his brain.

She was about to check the kitchen, just for something to do, when to her surprise Jane started talking again.

“This is really, quite a clinical murder, Lisbon,” Jane said after a moment. “Very little mess, almost nothing in the room disturbed. Nothing obviously out place, no obvious signs of forced entry. Almost no personal involvement. This guy’s as methodical as Red John, but he’s more detached from the murder. He enjoys the kill on some level, or maybe he just feels compelled to do it. I don’t know, but I’m betting on enjoyment. He likes the power. He’s doing it to show mental superiority. It’s a kind of mental exercise for him. A twisted one, but a challenge.”

“If it’s a mental exercise,” Lisbon said slowly. “We’re obviously looking for someone quite smart.”

“Obviously,” Jane agreed.

“So, he might be in a profession that requires a lot of intelligence. IT maybe, or a professor. Possibly finance,” she suggested.

Jane shrugged. “Or he’s working a job where he doesn’t get to use his brilliance (at least as far as he’s concerned). So he’s doing this instead to show the world how smart he is.”

“Maybe he’s a member of Mensa, or something,” Lisbon suggested. “We could...”

Jane smirked. “Lisbon, Mensa only cares about a person’s IQ. It has nothing to do with a person’s job or social position.”

“But we don’t know his social position,” Lisbon pointed out logically.

“Exactly,” Jane agreed. “We can look up the members of Mensa, but right now we have no idea how to narrow it down, because he hasn’t left us anything to go on.”

“Do you think he’d even be a member of Mensa?” Lisbon asked. “He is awfully careful after all.”

Jane considered her question. “You know, I think he would,” he said finally. “Or he’d be in something similar. He wants us to recognize how brilliant he is. Our guy’d be exactly the type who joined societies or organizations that recognized intelligence.”

Lisbon nodded. “Well, that’s something I guess. Now I guess we just have to find something else.”

Jane shook his head. He didn’t know what he’d do without his favourite cheerleader around to keep his spirits up. Of course, he liked to return the favour whenever possible.

So he sent her a smile. “Quite right, Lisbon. So, what’re we waiting for? Let’s go find something else.”

xxx

TBC


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

xxx

In spite of Jane’s initial insight into their killer’s brain, their progress was slow. They’d just been given so little, even with Detectives Samson and Frasier’s opinions of the murder scene. Lisbon and Jane’s first week was an endless stream of interviews, of reading and rereading files, and in Jane’s case, of lying on his makeshift couch (an old patio chaise longue he’d dragged in from somewhere – Lisbon hadn’t asked) and thinking. It was a practice that tended to result in officers walking by and glancing in the door at him, but Lisbon ignored them, and eventually even that slowed.

Detectives Samson and Frasier were helpful of course. Particularly Detective Frasier. As Jane had predicted, she and Lisbon hit it off almost immediately. They both approached a problem in the same way, fearlessly but methodically, always looking for clues. Lisbon found herself circling around aspects of the case with the other woman, even going on interviews with her (when Jane deemed the practice pointless). She liked her; Detective Frasier was a good partner in the field. Jo was smart and strong, as most female cops were. She was also funny, confident, but not overcompensating, and not abrasive.

Lisbon couldn’t remember the last time she’d liked one of their local liaisons even half so well. Really, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d met someone she liked quite so well period.

She was really quite pleased with what she now considered the start of a friendship.

Particularly when Jo showed her a coffee shop tucked around the corner from the station where the coffee was superior enough to be worth the extra walk. (She’d given up trying to cut back on caffeine. It was too hard to do on top of the disruption to her routine thanks to the trip to Oregon.)

Lisbon let herself relax a little. In spite of the serial killer they were working, the time in Oregon was almost like a kind of vacation. Unlike most of her cases, since this one had been unsolved for months, there was less of a sense of urgency. It may not have been fair, but it was the truth.

While Lisbon still checked in with the CBI almost daily, her boss was in another state. She didn’t have to worry about an entire team, just Jane (although he was certainly challenging enough some days). And she really only had one task. There was nothing to juggle.

So by her usual standards, the trip was positively relaxing.

Even sharing a house with Jane was settling into a routine. He still made her coffee every morning (the pancakes had been a onetime thing, though Lisbon suspected he might make them again if she asked). They’d ordered in for their first couple of dinners, until they’d mutually gotten sick of it. Also, Jane had managed to locate a really good farmers market.

So they’d gone grocery shopping, something Lisbon had predicted would be far more aggravating than it actually was. In fact, Jane was actually fairly easy to shop for food with. He insisted on quality, but she admitted that was probably healthier for her anyway. And the fact that they had groceries meant that now they could cook.

Lisbon hadn’t been sure that Jane _could_ cook of course. He’d been living in a motel for the better part of a decade, but of course he could. He was actually pretty good. Their original agreement was to alternate meal preparation, but that kind of fell by the wayside. Instead, whoever wasn’t working (or in Jane’s case, trying to follow through on some mental theory), started dinner. Lisbon was sure it evened out in the end. Half the time, they wound up cooking together anyway. She’d be midway through lasagna, only to find that Jane had snuck up beside her and started in on a salad.

It was kinda nice.

And somehow, she wasn’t sure how, the presence of the copycat killer had really hammered home that Red John was really gone. If he hadn’t been, well, then the copycat would have inevitably already been found long ago, lying in a pool of his own blood beneath a smiley face. 

Besides, as Jane said, this guy was different from Red John, and each passing day convinced Lisbon of that even more.

The two of them continued to work on the case(and with quite a bit of dedication, particularly on Lisbon’s part).

Then their first weekend in Oregon rolled around.

Jane let Lisbon work all day Saturday, burying herself in her files and checking in with her teammates back in Sacramento to make sure their assignments were going well. Jane didn’t interfere. He merely offered to go pick up groceries and spent much of the day exploring downtown Portland, meeting the neighbours, and drifting in and out of sleep on the living room couch, occasionally sharing a stray observation about the case with his partner.

But he did insist that she take a break for dinner.

Okay, he didn’t so much insist, as he cooked her something and placed it under her nose.

The surprise in her blinking eyes as she roused herself from the world of her files was entirely expected.

As was her annoyance with him when Jane also insisted on (subtly) steering their dinner conversation away from work.

“I’m just saying, I don’t know if I can handle four weeks of discussing nothing but the case, Lisbon,” he told her as he helped her dry the dishes. (She’d informed him firmly she was washing them, but hadn’t objected when he’d picked up a towel and started to dry.) “It’s just not healthy.”

Lisbon paused in her final wipe of the countertop. “And you’re the poster boy for healthy behaviour?”

“Well,” Jane said. “I’m trying, something you keep insisting on.”

Lisbon decided if he was going to be like that then she was going to use the opportunity to her advantage. “If you want to talk what’s not healthy Jane, then we should discuss your lack of exercise.”

He winced.

“You really should go jogging with me in the mornings,” she added.

“I hate jogging,” Jane muttered.

Lisbon smiled. “I was thinking about maybe going this evening. We could start slow.”

“Jogging twice in one day, Lisbon?” he asked. “That seems excessive, even for you.”

Lisbon shrugged. “I find it relaxing. What do you say? I’ll keep the pace light. You know I’m not going to let this go for the rest of the time we’re living together.”

Jane eyed her for a moment. “How about a compromise?”

Lisbon narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “What kind of a compromise?”

“A walk around the neighbourhood,” Jane suggested with his most charming smile. “It is a lovely spot Lisbon, and walking is very beneficial exercise too, I’m told.”

Lisbon barely contained her triumphant grin. She’d always known jogging was a non-starter anyway. The concession was more than she’d been expecting to be honest. “Okay, a walk then. But I get to choose the length.”

“Fine,” Jane murmured. “But barring something unexpected coming up, I get to choose tomorrow’s agenda. And it won’t be work.”

“ _Jane.”_

“ _Lisbon._ Just because you’re on assignment, doesn’t mean you’re supposed to work yourself to the bone,” he reminded her, continuing before she could point out that he’d done far worse during the Red John case. He was done with that now, trying very hard to move onto something slightly healthier (somewhat ironically, under her guidance). “We’re probably going to be here for almost a month. People expect you to take a day off now and again, and I’m afraid I’m going to insist on it.”

She wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed or amused with him. “Oh you are, are you?”

He nodded. “Or I won’t be going on any kind of beneficial walk, and then where will I get my exercise?”

She glared at him. “That is the most ridiculous blackmail I have ever…”

“Yes, you’re right,” Jane agreed. “It is ridiculous that I have to blackmail you to take a day off. Would you like me to get Director Stephens’ opinion on the matter? What was it she told you after you worked nine days straight on the Munroe case again? You remember, it was that time you barely slept? Something about good work, but if you didn’t start taking normal breaks, she’d send you on some sort of mandatory retreat to manage your stress levels. If I recall correctly at least.”

“Fine,” Lisbon said, continuing to glare. “We’ll take tomorrow off.”

Jane suspected he’d just added another mile to the length of his walk as punishment, but decided he didn’t care. “Excellent. We’ll go see the sights of Portland. I’ve already looked into it Lisbon. I’ve got it all planned. You won’t have to worry about a thing.”

“Great,” she muttered. “Oh, wait. Only in the afternoon. You don’t get to plan my morning.”

“Of course not,” Jane agreed. “You’re free to sleep in as late as you want, dear. Or you can go to mass if that’s what you’re planning. Whatever moves you.”

“Don’t you dare mock that,” she started to growl.

“I don’t believe I did,” he said softly.

Lisbon met his eyes, surprised by the quiet conviction behind his tone. She took a deep breath. He was right. He hadn’t. He never had. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” he replied quietly, glancing away and pretending to fiddle with something on his jacket.

She shook her head, trying to catch his eye. “No, it’s not.”

He shrugged. “Sure it is. Probably deserved. I can’t imagine I’m the easiest person to live with.”

She smiled tentatively in an obvious peace offering. “Oh, I don’t know. You’re not so bad,” she told him, nudging his shoulder.

Jane’s answering smile was bright as he opened the door for her. “Neither are you.”

Companionably, they walked out together to start their evening walk.

xxx

As Jane had expected, Lisbon kept up a brisk pace for the first half hour. He didn’t mind so much. He tried to focus on the fact that the exercise was undeniably good for him, and the fact that she obviously wasn’t trying to kill him. Plus, he could still talk to her while she powered along the sidewalks.

Eventually he succeeded in distracting her a little. Just enough that she slowed her pace. Although, Jane wasn’t sure if he was what had distracted her, or her surroundings. They’d wandered into an older neighbourhood and Lisbon seemed charmed by the houses, their gardens, and most of all the trees shading the street (all fully mature, not the spindly things of a new sub division).

Her pace slowed as a smile crept into her eyes and Jane knew instinctively that she’d (probably inadvertently) taken him down her jogging route. He thought he understood in part why she found the activity so relaxing. She left her busy world behind, even just for a little while; he could see her doing it now.

“Neighbourhood’s nice,” Jane remarked.

“I like the trees,” Lisbon told him, glancing covetously at the enormous maple in front of one of the houses. She’d been in her condo for eight years now, and the trees (all two of them) outside of it were only now finally getting to be a decent size.

“Hmm,” Jane agreed.

“I found this neighbourhood a few days ago,” she continued, not sure why she was feeling the compulsion to share. “It’s good for jogging through. Quiet, not a lot of traffic, pretty.”

Jane smiled, pleased that he’d been right. “And here I was thinking I was the only one who’d been exploring the city.”

Lisbon smirked. “Just goes to show, even you’re not always right. You have your ways, I have mine.”

“Quite literally,” Jane mused as he looked around. “It is a lovely spot,” he admitted, his eyes drawn to a particularly vivid rosebush.

“You sure you don’t want to take up jogging,” Lisbon teased. She knew that was a lost cause, but it really would be good for him. At least he was walking now. That was something.

Jane chuckled. “Quite sure, thank you. I much prefer walking. Less lonely.”

Lisbon shook her head, but she was pleased. “Jogging isn't lonely. It helps me sort out my thoughts. With all you’ve got going on in your brain, you could probably use it.”

“What do you think I’m doing when I’m lying on my couch?” Jane asked.

“Sleeping,” Lisbon said dryly.

“Liar,” he shot back. She knew as well as he did that he rarely slept on that couch.

She shrugged. “Fine, but jogging isn't lonely.”

“I’m still going to stick with an evening constitutional, I think,” Jane murmured. “After all, what was good enough for our forefathers…”

Lisbon rolled her eyes at him.

Still, she didn’t object when he threaded his arm through hers.

She supposed there was something to be said for a bit of company.

xxx

About a half an hour later, they were making their way back to their temporary home when a voice interrupted their little bubble of calm.

“Mr Jane! Oh, Mr. Jane! Patrick!” a woman called from across the street as she hurried over.

Lisbon gave her a quick once over. In a hot pink dress and bright blond highlights, the woman obviously wasn’t going for subtle.

“Mr. Jane,” she said. “Or is it okay if I call you Patrick, I never did ask?” She continued before Jane could answer, turning her attention towards Lisbon. “Oh, and you must be Mrs. Jane!” 

Lisbon froze in shock.

“Lisbon,” Jane corrected softly, finally able to get a word in edgewise. “Teresa Lisbon.”

“Ah,” the woman nodded sagely. “You didn’t take his name. Well, I can’t say I blame you for that. Much less hassle, particularly if you already have your own career. I definitely thought about it when I married George. But in the end, I bit the bullet and made the switch. Less confusing for other people in the end. I’m Jenny Jameson, by the way, live just across the street, George and I. We’re alone right now, thinking about children of course, but you know how that is. Such a responsibility. They do tie you down. Anyway, I’ve been dying to meet you. Patrick says the two of you are in town for about a month?”

Lisbon nodded mutely, not quite daring to try and speak (and even less sure what to say).

Her silence didn’t seem to dissuade Jenny Jameson in the slightest, “I know I should have introduced myself before now, completely shocking behaviour, really. But you just get so busy. You know what that’s like, I bet. Patrick says you work together. Anyway, I just haven’t had a chance to catch you before now. It is awkward, knocking on the door of a woman you’ve never actually met, wouldn’t you agree? When I saw you two out for your evening walk, I just knew it was the perfect opportunity. Getting a feel for the neighbourhood, were you? It is a lovely spot. Nice people, for the most part. You’ll find not everyone’s as friendly as I am, but you can’t have everything. George and I are happy. And that’s all that matters, isn’t it? Happiness, I mean. I’m sure you two will find it. You looked so sweet walking together just now. Which reminds me, I’m probably interrupting your nice walk. Like I said, I just wanted to pop by and introduce myself, let you know that if you have any questions or if there’s anything you need, my door is always open. Feel free to drop by anytime. Now, I’ve got to go. I’m baking and I don’t want my bread to burn. I’m sure we’ll see each other around Teresa. Patrick, always a pleasure.”

“Good night Jen,” he called after her, receiving a wave and a blown kiss from halfway across the street for his troubles.

Then he turned and ushered a shell-shocked looking Lisbon into the house.

“You told the neighbours we were _married?”_ she hissed at him once the door was closed.

Jane wisely kept his smile to himself. “Don’t be absurd, Lisbon. Of course I didn’t.”

“Then why…?” Lisbon started to ask.

“She assumed and I simply didn’t correct her,” Jane explained.

She blinked at him. “ _Why?”_

 __“It’s actually a fairly logical assumption, Teresa,” Jane pointed out calmly. “I was buying groceries for the two of us earlier. That’s when I met the lovely Mrs. Jameson, by the way. She’d obviously noticed that you and I always seem to be together. We drive to work together. We’re living together. Plus, we have a certain rapport…”

“Not why did she think we were married,” Lisbon snapped, refusing to dwell on _that_ for the moment. “Why didn’t you correct her, you idiot?”

“Well, as Detective Samson informed us, the police sometimes use this place to house witnesses,” Jane explained seriously. “I didn’t want to blow their cover by identifying ourselves as cops, or in my case cop-adjacent. If you’re interested, our cover story is that we’re newlyweds renting for a month because we’re thinking of buying something more permanent in this neighbourhood, but we wanted to give it a test drive first. You’re very thorough after all.”

Lisbon gaped at him. “Thorough... newlyweds…” Then she recovered. “Don’t even try giving me that nonsense about a cover story. You think this is _funny!_ ”

Jane shrugged. “It _is_ funny. Anyway, we’re only going to be here three weeks. What’s the harm?”

“That’s not the point!” Lisbon grumbled. Only Jane would find it perfectly normal to tell the neighbours that the two of them were married, solely for his own amusement.

Jane didn’t bother asking her what the point was. “And besides, I noticed that you didn’t seem in a huge hurry to set her straight.”

“First of all, I was completely blindsided. And second of all, you know as well as I do that I couldn’t possibly have gotten a word in to set her straight, not in the middle of _Jenny’s_ monologue at least,” Lisbon barked.

“She seems nice,” Jane observed. “Maybe the two of you will be friends. Friends are good, right?”

Lisbon just glared at him incredulously.

“Well, at least we can be sure that if Jenny knows about our ‘marriage’, we won’t have to worry about repeating the story to the rest of our neighbours. No doubt Jenny’s already taken care of that for us,” Jane said cheerfully.

Not deigning to reply, Lisbon stalked to her bedroom to get changed.

“Does this mean you don’t want to hear the story I told her about how we met?” Jane called after her.

His answer was a slamming door.

He settled onto the couch with a grin. He could tell her later. He imagined she’d particularly like the part where she called him an idiot and punched him in the nose.

xxx

TBC


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

xxx

Late Sunday morning, Jane was dozing on the couch when he heard Lisbon return.

He was fairly certain she had gone to mass, but didn’t confirm. It was probably a bit of a touchy subject still. Maybe he’d ask her about it next week. Or maybe not. Maybe they’d both agree not to talk about it.

He listened as she went into her room, probably to change.

She came to find him a few minutes later. Well, that’s what he thought she was doing. She walked by him and sat down in the chair next to the couch. Jane stayed silent, deciding that if she wanted to talk, she could instigate the conversation. For the moment, he was content to just lie peacefully.

To his surprise, Lisbon didn’t break the silence. Instead, she reached for the remote and turned on the television.

A few minutes later, Jane heard the unmistakable sounds of a baseball game starting.

“I thought I was supposed to be planning our afternoon,” he reminded her.

“It’s still morning,” Lisbon replied defensively.

Jane cracked an eye open to look at her. “But this game will be continuing into the afternoon, yes?”

“Yes,” she admitted.

He turned to look at the television. “The Cubs. I should have known. Going back on our deal, Lisbon. I’m surprised at you.”

“First of all, I am not going back on our deal,” she insisted hotly. “Not yet at least. I can watch this for the next hour or so, and it will not affect our deal in the slightest. Besides, I forgot this was on today,” she muttered, curling deeper into the chair. “I miss so many games with the hours I work anyway...”

Jane huffed. “Oh, no need to give me the puppy dog eyes, woman.”

Lisbon whipped her head around to look at him. “I’m not!”

Jane controlled his facial expression carefully. Honestly, he didn’t care if she wanted to watch baseball, just as long as she wasn’t working. Even if he had cared, once he’d heard the soft tone in her voice when she remembered the games she always missed, well... “I’m more than happy to let you enjoy your silly little game,” he assured her.

“It’s not silly,” Lisbon insisted.

Jane held in his sigh. He’d never really understood people’s fascination with sports, though he didn’t mind watching the odd game from time to time. “I’ll even watch it with you,” he promised.

“How magnanimous of you,” Lisbon muttered, annoyed with him for making this into something. She’d just wanted to watch the game. She knew that she’d told him he could plan Sunday afternoon, and she felt badly about it, but well, she’d also been hoping Jane wouldn’t mind. 

Jane’s grin slipped out as he watched her try to burrow even deeper into the chair. “But I get to decide what we do afterwards, when it’s over,” he told her.

That got her attention. She turned back towards him, “Really?”

“Hmm?” he hummed, pretending not to know what she was talking about. He found himself mildly irked that she thought he was going to hold her to the letter of their deal and force her to stop watching her game at the stroke of noon. He’d never had any intention of doing anything of the kind. His plans for the afternoon had been vague at best. Besides, the game couldn’t last all day, could it?

Lisbon bit her lip. “Never mind. Just, thanks Jane.”

“For what?” he asked, still playing dumb.

She shrugged. “Not making a fuss, I guess.”

“Of course.” If she wanted to watch a baseball game, he could live with that. But after it was over, he was taking her to the art gallery or the park, and then maybe dinner. He guessed he was making lunch for the two of them, since he was the one who didn’t care about the events on the screen. He smiled to himself. A nice, normal relaxing Sunday. Lisbon needed to relax.

“Oh, come on! Are you kidding me! That was foul!” Lisbon yelled suddenly.

Jane glanced towards the television. “Your team doesn’t seem to be doing very well, Lisbon,” he observed, noting that the other team appeared to have hit a home run.

If looks could kill, he’d be dead a million times over. “Shut up Jane. Nobody asked you.”

He shrugged as eloquently as one could while lying on a couch. “I’m just saying...”

“What?” she positively snarled.

“Well...” he wondered briefly if perhaps he was pushing things a bit far with her.

Lisbon looked murderous. “ _What, Jane?”_

He was in it now. May as well keep going, even if she did maim him, at least he’d get the fun of teasing her. “It’s just, it’s the _Cubs_ , Lisbon.”

“Yes, I am well aware which team I’m cheering for Jane,” she replied, her voice carefully even.

“I know you are,” Jane agreed, looking her over. She was even wearing a Cubs jersey. How had he not noticed that before now? “What I meant was, does it even matter?”

He watched her grit her teeth. “Because it’s just a baseball game?”

“Well, that,” Jane agreed. “And, even I know about the Cubs. And I know that even if they do win this particular game, it’s not like it’s not going to even come close to making it to the playoffs, so why get so worked up about a foul ball?”

Lisbon just stared at him. Jane could feel the quiet fury aimed in his direction. He was suddenly genuinely concerned for his personal safety. Lisbon was usually so sensible, but he’d forgotten how touchy sports fans could be. “Oh, of course,” she said scathingly. “Why bother if they’re not going to win? There’s no point in it. No point in getting worked up. No point in _caring._ ”

Jane raised his hands defensively, realizing he’d definitely hit a sore spot. “That’s not...”

“I guess I must look awfully foolish to you...” she continued, working herself into a temper.

“Of course not...” Actually, curled up in her oversized sports jersey, she looked rather adorable, not that he was going to tell her. He was already too close to losing a limb as it was.

“They’re _my team_ , Jane,” Lisbon insisted ferociously.

“I know,” he said quietly, attempting to pacify her.

“I don’t expect you to understand...” She took a deep breath. “I know they’re not the best team in the world; I know the curse, but they’re _mine_. Ever since I was a little girl, I used to watch... Anyway, no matter how long the odds, you never give up. Because, even if it’s a slim one, there’s always a chance,” she told him, looking at him so earnestly he was suddenly ashamed of himself. How could he have expected anything else from her?

“You don’t give up, Jane,” she told him. “Because no matter how bad it looks, there’s always a chance. You still have to _try._ Cubs fans never give up hope.”

The rush of affection he felt for her was almost overwhelming. Teresa Lisbon, the defender of lost (or nearly lost causes). And she was loyal to them all. She saved a lot of them, although even she couldn’t help the Cubs. He smiled at her then, enjoying the surprise on her face. “You’re right dear,” he told her. “I was wrong. I guess I have a lot to learn about baseball.”

Lisbon watched him, still suspicious. After a minute she nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you.”

“Okay,” he said softly. When she turned her attention back to the game, he kept his focussed on her. His fiercely loyal, surprisingly passionate little partner. He was well aware that her loyalty was all that had kept him alive over the years. His eyes were affectionate as he continued to watch her. He was lucky she was so focused on the game, or she’d have noticed and turned to yell at him long before now. Jane admitted that there was no one he’d rather have been sharing a house with than the delicate-looking woman next to him.

At that moment, Lisbon started swearing a blue streak at the television. Jane’s eyebrows rose almost to his hairline. Her vocabulary gave some of his old carnie friends a run for their money. He hadn’t known she had it in her. Well, she was always full of surprises.

He wondered what she’d want for lunch.

xxx

As Jane had predicted, the baseball game ended mid-afternoon.

He watched Lisbon stand and stretch a little dejectedly.

“I’m sorry your team didn’t win, Lisbon,” he said.

She turned to glare at him, only to realize he seemed to be serious. So she shrugged. “You were right. It’s not exactly a shocking outcome.”

“Still,” Jane said. “How about you get changed and we try and cheer you up?”

Lisbon’s expression turned curious. “What did you have in mind?”

“Nothing fancy,” he assured her. “But Cubs attire might not be ideal.”

Lisbon glanced down, blushing. “Okay, give me a few minutes.”

“Take your time,” he assured her. She wouldn’t be long. She wasn’t the type.

Five minutes later, Lisbon was downstairs in jeans and a t-shirt. She let Jane lead her from the house, and, because she probably had upset his plans for the day a little, she even let him drive without a fuss. Not that she knew his intended destination anyway.

To her surprise, Jane’s intended destination was the art gallery.

“Really?” she asked. “This isn’t what I was expecting.”

Jane shrugged. “I heard the collection’s not bad. Besides, we’re visiting Portland, doesn’t hurt to see the city, do a few of the touristy things.”

“No,” Lisbon agreed, as she let him lead her into the building, curious about his choice.

Jane liked art. Who’d have thought?

Half an hour later, she had to amend that statement. It turned out that Jane didn’t just _like_ art. He actually knew a fair bit about it. He’d scorned all of the offered tours, preferring to wander through the galleries at will, taking her with him.

She was content to follow his lead. She knew the basics of course. She could identify the impressionists or admire a still life, but Jane knew far more than that. He talked about brush strokes and shadows, and artists who’d gone crazy (which a lot of them seemed to have).

For the most part, Lisbon was content to listen. She’d always liked art in a general kind of way. But Jane was fascinated. It was different. Usually he didn’t seem to care too much about anything one way or the other. He rarely seemed to get emotionally involved in anything (serial killers or the welfare of the team notwithstanding). But where she saw a pretty painting of a garden, Jane seemed to see something else.

She wouldn’t have pictured him as an art lover. Maybe it was his unorthodox upbringing, but...

That was when it hit her. His upbringing. He hadn’t gone to high school, hadn’t gone to college. He really hadn’t had any formal education at all. Yet, he knew more about a lot of classic literature than most people she knew. He’d memorized facts about geography and history, and apparently dabbled in art. She wondered if (although he’d never acknowledge it) it was somehow a compensation for what he didn’t have.

Biting her lip, she walked over to him, where he was looking particularly intently at a painting of some nineteenth century woman or other, and slipped her arm in his.

He looked down at her in surprise.

She just smiled. “I’m having a really good time, Jane.”

She watched his eyes light up. “See Lisbon, this is why you should take days off more often.”

“Maybe,” she admitted.

He nodded. “Although, I think the gallery is about to close.”

That surprised her. “What time is it?”

“Almost five,” he admitted with a shrug. “And it’s Sunday, so they close early.”

“Oh,” she said softly.

Jane nodded. “But I’m glad you’ve enjoyed yourself.”

Lisbon nodded. “I didn’t know you liked art.”

Jane shrugged. “It became a hobby. I dabbled a bit, after...”

“After the psychic business took off,” Lisbon guessed dryly.

Jane shook his head. “After I left the carnival, but before the psychic business took off,” he admitted. Then he changed the subject. “Wanna walk by the river a bit?”

Lisbon nodded, perfectly willing to let the subject drop. She knew that would probably always be a period in his life that Jane felt comfortable talking about.

“Okay,” Jane said. 

“Hey Jane?” she asked.

“Yeah?”

“I know we have the stuff to make dinner at home, but...” Lisbon trailed off.

Jane grinned. “I found a really nice looking Indian restaurant yesterday,” he told her.

Lisbon smiled. “Okay.”

“And afterwards, we can go for our walk,” Jane added.

That got Lisbon’s attention. “Our walk?”

Jane shrugged. “I figured you’d insist. You’re always telling me I need to exercise after all.”

Lisbon watched him for a moment, feeling oddly pleased. “You’re right,” she said firmly. “I _do_ insist. Jane, you absolutely need more exercise.”

“Okay,” he agreed pleasantly.

“In fact,” she continued. “I think we’re going to have to go on several walks a week, when we’re not working.”

“Whatever you say, Lisbon,” he murmured, opening the door to lead her out of the gallery. As far as days off went, this one hadn’t been half bad.

xxx

Of course, the next day brought the pair of them back to the real reason they were in Oregon. There was a serial killer who needed catching.

Lisbon didn’t feel much closer to catching him than she had the week before, even after days and days of interviewing anyone at all who might have been connected to the case. She wasn’t sure about Jane. He came to most of the interviews with her, and he always had questions. That morning he’d even hypnotized one of the victim’s family members (with their permission, thankfully), trying to find some sort of clue locked in their subconscious. No luck, as far as Lisbon could tell, but Jane’s opinion was less certain.

He’d gotten positively quiet over the afternoon, preferring to spend most of it on his chaise longue while she went through security footage outside the second victim’s building, hoping for something they’d all missed.

Jane obviously had something on his mind. Lisbon hoped he figured it out soon, whatever it was. They could use a break.

The station was quiet that day. Lisbon knew that Detectives Samson and Frasier were working another case, a string of robberies, the last of which had ended in a homicide. She hadn’t seen either of them since the morning and it was getting late.

Lisbon glanced at her watch. It was almost eight and Jane was showing no signs of movement. Whatever his brain was focussed on, he wasn’t about to let it go because of something as trivial as the time of day. She’d ordered them dinner over an hour ago. Jane had thanked her, but she wasn’t sure he’d eaten it. She was about ready to head home, but she didn’t want to disturb him if he was close to something. So, resignedly, she cued up the next surveillance tape.

She was just about to press play when she heard Jo walk in behind her.

“I can’t believe you two are still here,” the woman said, sounding tired. “Did you find anything?”

Lisbon shook her head. “Nope,” she said, happy for the distraction. “Sadly not. I feel like we’re just missing something somehow. How about you? How’s your robbery/homicide going?”

Jo winced and dropped into the chair across from her. “Talk about just missing something,” she murmured. “We got him. But not before another variety store owner ended up with broken ribs and a massive head wound.”

Lisbon closed her eyes briefly. “He gonna be okay?”

Jo shrugged. “Eventually. I just wish we’d been five minutes faster.”

“Yeah,” Lisbon breathed out. She understood that feeling all too well. “You wanna talk about it?” she asked.

Jo shook her head slightly. “Not really.”

“Okay,” Lisbon agreed. “Listen, I know I’m really only here to help you with your serial killer, but if you ever want an extra person to come out with you guys on stuff like this, or y’know, anything, I’m available.”

Jo glanced at her. “Thanks,” she said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Lisbon nodded. “Hey, where’s Samson? I didn’t see him come in.”

Jo smiled slightly. “He took our guy to holding, but he’s probably halfway home by now. Seeing his wife helps on days like this, I think.”

Lisbon smiled. She’d only been in Oregon for a week, but she’d figured out quickly that Murray Samson was rather devoted to his wife. It was sweet. “And what do you do,” she asked. “On days like this?”

Jo shrugged. “Honestly? Go blow a few targets off the face of the earth at the range.”

Lisbon chuckled. “Oh, I hear that.”

The two women lapsed into a brief silence; Jo was considering her companion out of the corner of her eye. After a moment she took a deep breath. “There’s a shooting range a few blocks from here that’s open late, if you’re interested. I can drop you back here after.”

Lisbon grinned. “You’re on.” She glanced towards Jane. “Just give me a minute.”

Jo nodded.

Lisbon stood and walked over to her consultant. As soon as she reached him, he spoke. “No need to summarize, Lisbon,” he told her. “I hear you’re off to shoot things.”

“I am,” she confirmed. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the keys and dropped them on Jane’s chest, ignoring his wince. “Here are the keys to the SUV. I’ll see you at home. And if you’re not there by midnight, I will come back here and drag you out myself.”

That made Jane open his eyes with a smile. “Will you now?”

Lisbon nodded. “Absolutely. You can lie on the living room couch, or even your bed, just as easily as you can lay here.”

Jane shut his eyes with a nod. “See you at home then, dear. Have fun.”

Lisbon shook her head and met Jo at the door. The other woman was smiling as she opened the door. “If you’re interested, I know a coffee shop with really good desserts that’s open even later than the shooting range.”

“For that after-the-shooting-range crowd?” Lisbon suggested.

“Something like that,” Jo said with a laugh.

“Lead the way,” Lisbon told her.

xxx

Lisbon was pleased to discover that Jane was in fact back at the bungalow when Jo dropped her off just after 11. He appeared to have taken her advice to heart, and had decided to lay down on his bed.

She hoped he got some sleep.

He seemed well rested when she came downstairs the next morning.

Wordlessly he handed her a cup of coffee and the sports section, before going back to the newspaper he’d been reading. Lisbon took them from him and wandered off to make toast. She scowled when she realized that Jane obviously hadn’t eaten anything yet other than tea, and so put four slices in the toaster. And he had the nerve to criticize her eating habits...

Jane waited until she was midway through her coffee before he spoke. “I assume you and Jo had a good time yesterday evening.”

Lisbon looked up from the paper. “Hm? Oh, yeah, we did,” she admitted with a smile. “She’s great. We had the best cupcakes.”

“Mmm,” Jane hummed.

“I think we’re going to go to the movies one night next week, see the new Christian Bale movie,” Lisbon added.

Jane couldn’t contain his grin. “The one with all the gun-fighting and car chases in the trailer?”

“Yup,” Lisbon confirmed. Then she looked up guiltily. “Oh! I mean, you could come too if you want. I’m sure Jo wouldn’t mind...”

But Jane was already shaking his head. “Not really my thing,” he told her. “You two ladies should go enjoy yourselves.”

Lisbon bit her lip. “You sure?”

Jane nodded. “I’m glad you two are hitting it off.”

“You don’t like her?” Lisbon asked, concerned.

“I think she’s lovely,” Jane corrected. “She seems very competent, forthright. Doesn’t have the ego a lot of the locals we’re confronted with have. I like her very much.”

“So?” Lisbon asked.

Jane grinned. “I guess it’s just rather obvious which one of us she prefers.”

Lisbon suddenly became very interested in the sports section. “I guess we just have a lot in common.”

“Guess so,” Jane drawled. “It’s nice, Teresa. I’m glad you’ve found a friend. You could use one.”

Lisbon glanced up, obviously insulted. “I have friends!” 

Jane smirked. “I’m sure you do,” he replied, his tone pacifying. “But how many of them do you like as well as Jo?”

Lisbon fell silent, considering his point. Jane went back to his tea and toast.

“You know, you could try and make a friend while we’re here,” Lisbon told him.

Jane smirked. “I don’t think that Detective Samson and I are going to hit it off in quite the same way,” he told her.

Lisbon acknowledged the point with a nod. “Maybe,” she admitted. “But what about one of the neighbours? You seem pretty friendly with some of them.”

“Now that’s just cruel, Lisbon,” Jane told her. “Foisting me off on the likes of Jenny from across the street.”

Lisbon smirked. “I didn’t necessarily mean her. And she already seems to like you very much.”

“She _is_ the friendliest,” Jane muttered. He’d been amusing himself by pretending to be a suburban husband to forge a fake bond with the neighbours (a few days ago he’d spent fifteen minutes complaining about weeds in lawns with the man who lived next door) but he had no intention of trying for anything deeper. “Anyway, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

“I just don’t want you to feel left out,” Lisbon told him. “I don’t like the idea of you all by yourself.”

“I can handle being alone a couple evenings,” Jane assured her. “I’ve done it more than once. And anyway, you’re here most of the time.”

“I know,” Lisbon admitted. “But I guess, well, that’s the point. We send a lot of time together and now that Jo and I are...”

Jane’s eyes were twinkling. “Funny thing about friends, Lisbon. From what I hear, you’re allowed to have more than one.”

She scowled at him. If he carried on that way, he wasn’t going to have any. “Fine,” she said. “Whatever.”

“But thank you for being concerned,” Jane said as he went back to the paper.

Hidden behind the sports section, Lisbon smiled.

xxx

TBC


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

xxx

Their second week in Oregon continued on as it’d begun. Jane and Lisbon making copious notes about what they knew about the serial killer, Jane’s mental, Lisbon’s in report form. They both had several theories, but nothing concrete. And it was hard to find someone based solely on a list of personality traits.

Lisbon tried not to let her frustration get to her. Jo was sympathetic. Samson was understanding. Jane didn’t say much, but Lisbon was beginning to worry what another uncatchable serial killer might do to him, even without the personal connection.

Not that she mentioned it. She knew better than that.

She did her best not to worry, a process that usually involved finding something else to keep her busy. Things were better if she at least felt like she was doing something.

Which was why, one evening she was in the basement folding her third load of laundry and getting ready to load the fourth (Jane had joked that there wasn’t a used towel or a sheet in the place). She could hear the vacuum above her. She smiled; she’d always hated vacuuming. Somehow the chores had just seemed to divide naturally between her and Jane. The day after she’d cleaned the kitchen (thanks in part to an unfortunate incident with tomato sauce spattering all over), she’d come home from the movie with Jo to find the bathrooms sparkling.

She was on her way up the stairs with the laundry when she felt her phone buzz against her hip.

Dropping the laundry basket in the hallway, she grabbed her cell just as Jane shut of the vacuum. “Lisbon.”

“Hey Aunt Reese,” Annabeth said in greeting.

“Annie!” Lisbon replied in excitement, not noticing Jane’s sudden interest. She dropped onto the couch as he put the vacuum away. “How are you?”

“Oh fine,” Annie assured her. “I just, well, I had a question for you.”

“Shoot,” Lisbon replied.

“You know how Dad’s birthday’s coming up in a few weeks,” Annie said.

“I do,” Lisbon agreed, making a mental note to remember to mail Tommy’s birthday present to him. She’d remembered to bring it to Oregon, she was damn well going to remember to actually send it so that it got to him in time.

“I thought I’d make him dinner,” Annie told her. “As a surprise.”

Lisbon grinned. “That’s a really good idea, Annie.”

“Thanks. Anyway, Dad once told me that you used to make the best macaroni and cheese,” Annie explained. “And I was wondering if you could send me the recipe.”

Lisbon felt a lump form in her throat. Tommy had always loved mac and cheese. Her recipe was an old one she’d found in a cookbook of her mother’s. It certainly wasn’t gourmet, but it had been simple. And as a teenager, that’d been all that mattered. She hadn’t made it in a while, but she still knew the recipe by heart.

“Aunt Reese?” Annie asked, when Lisbon didn’t say anything right away.

“Sorry,” Lisbon said, clearing her throat, and feeling Jane’s hand drop on her shoulder briefly as he walked past with the vacuum. “Yeah, I can e-mail you the recipe tonight.”

“Great!” Annie said cheerfully. “Thanks so much.”

“Anytime,” Lisbon told her, shaking her head slightly to clear it. She decided to change the subject, “So, how’s school going?”

“Oh, same old, same old,” Annie told her. “I started Geography this term. So far it’s boring.”

“Hey!” Lisbon said.

“I still go and everything,” Annie insisted. “Don’t worry. I do the work, but I don’t have to like it.”

“I guess that’s fair,” Lisbon agreed.

“How’re you?” Annie asked, changing the subject. “Are you still in Oregon?”

“Yup, for a couple more weeks probably,” Lisbon told her. Then she caught Jane trying to wrench the closet door closed. “Jane! Stop that! You’ll break it!”

There was a brief pause on the other end of the line. “Jane’s there?” Annie asked curiously. “I thought you’d be done work by now.”

“Oh we are,” Lisbon admitted. “We’re sharing a house for the month.”

 _“Are you?”_ Annie asked, clearly intrigued.

Lisbon winced mentally. She was probably going to be teased about this for the foreseeable future now. “Yes, we _are_. We’re staying in a place the department uses sometimes for different things, but it’s empty now and they thought it’d be cheaper than a hotel. Public money’s tight all over Annie.”

“So, one bedroom or two?” Annie asked casually.

“ _Annabeth!”_ Lisbon choked.

Her niece laughed. “Relax Aunt Reese, just trying to shock you.”

“Give me a heart attack more like,” Lisbon replied, refusing to look at Jane, who’d just walked back into the living room, after giving the closet door one last good shove.

Annie bit back her retort just in time. “Anyway, I guess things are going well if you haven’t killed him yet.”

“Yup,” Lisbon told her with a laugh, unwilling to get into the details of the stalled serial killer case with a sixteen year old. “You?”

“Oh pretty good,” Annie told her. “Mom called last night. Seemed to think I should go visit her on the weekend of Dad’s birthday.”

“Not really?” Lisbon asked, sitting straight up.

“Really,” Annie said. “I talked her out of it before she could bring it up with Dad. Claimed she forgot what day it was, and I don’t know, maybe she did.”

“She probably did,” Lisbon replied forcing herself to calm down. Badmouthing Annie’s mom (no matter how much she deserved it), was not something Lisbon would ever do. “After all, your mom isn't mean. Sometimes she just doesn’t think.”

She heard Annie sigh. “I know. Anyway, she decided the week after would be just as good. Although she’ll probably change her mind before then.”

“Maybe not,” Lisbon said, trying to tamp down on the all too common urge to track the woman down and beat some sense into her.

“Maybe,” Annie agreed. “Oh, but I haven’t told Dad any of this. It’ll just make him upset, so...”

“I won’t tell him, kid,” Lisbon said softly. “I promise.”

“Thanks, Aunt Reese,” Annie told her. “I miss you.”

Lisbon bit her lip. “I miss you too,” she said after a moment. “Tell you what, when I get home from Oregon, how about we plan a visit?”

“Really?” Annie asked.

“Sure,” Lisbon told her, glad that Annie sounded happier.

“Wait, does that mean I’m visiting you, or are you visiting us?” Annie asked.

“I guess that’s just one of the things we’ll have to plan,” Lisbon said philosophically.

Annie laughed. “Okay. And you won’t forget to e-mail the recipe?”

“I’ll do it later tonight,” Lisbon promised.

“Okay. I guess I should go. I’ll talk to you later Aunt Reese.”

“Talk to you later, Annie,” Lisbon promised. “And say hi to your Dad for me.”

“Sure,” Annie agreed. Then she grinned. “Say hi to Jane for me!”

“Goodbye Annabeth” Lisbon said, before hanging up the phone.

She felt Jane sit down on the couch next to her. “So, how’s Annie,” he asked neutrally.

Lisbon shrugged. “Good. She says hi, by the way.”

“She seemed amused by our current living arrangement,” Jane pointed out.

“Well, it is a bit odd, I guess,” Lisbon admitted.

“Mmhm,” Jane agreed. “So, what’d she want?”

“You were eavesdropping,” Lisbon grumbled. “You don’t know?”

“I missed that part,” Jane admitted easily. “Too busy trying to shove the vacuum into the closet.”

“Please tell me you didn’t break it,” Lisbon sighed.

“I didn’t break it,” Jane assured her. “Dented it maybe, but nothing serious. Don’t change the subject.”

“I meant the closet, not the...” Lisbon shook her head and decided she wasn’t going to worry about it. “Annie called to ask me for my macaroni and cheese recipe,” she explained, not entirely sure why she was telling him. “It was her Dad’s favourite. She wants to surprise him on his birthday.”

“Oh,” Jane said. “Well, that’s nice.”

“I always used to think...” Lisbon said softly. “I mean, when Annie, and well, all my nieces and nephews really. But when Annie was born, I always used to think it was a shame... I learned so many things from my grandmother. Family traditions, and...”

She felt Jane wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her towards him. She let her head drop onto his shoulder. 

“It’s okay,” he murmured. “Annie’s fine.”

She shook her head. “It was one of my mother’s recipes.”

“I know,” he assured her.

Lisbon didn’t answer, just shut her eyes and let herself relax against him. Just for a little while. Then she’d finish the laundry.

“Lisbon?” Jane said after a moment.

“Yes?”

“Is it too late to go for a walk?” he asked hopefully.

Lisbon didn’t even bother to put up the pretence of looking at her watch. “No,” she said.

“Good,” Jane told her, as he pulled her to her feet. “That last load of laundry can wait until tomorrow.”

xxx

If Lisbon was honest, she wasn’t 100% focused at the Portland police station the next day. She’d e-mailed Annie the recipe once she got back from her walk with Jane, but she was still worried about the poor girl. Annie was getting to the age where she needed a stable female figure in her life. Lisbon knew, because she hadn’t had one.

She was sure Annie would be fine too. But it was hard not to worry.

That was why she didn’t even bother pretending that she was going to put in another late night. She just told Jane at five that she was leaving; he could stay if he wanted and she’d pick him up later.

She wasn’t surprised when he came with her.

They made dinner together in relative silence (tacos, not a lot of work, other than the chopping). Afterwards, Lisbon wandered over to the single shelf of books in the living room. It’d obviously been stocked with ten years worth of people’s cast-offs. She’d glanced at it before and would have been hard pressed to find a book on it that she actually _wanted_ to read. Still, she needed a distraction.

She heard Jane walk up behind her. “Isn’t there a baseball game on tonight?”

“Yup,” Lisbon confirmed.

Jane paused. “You aren’t going to watch it?”

“No. It’s Mariners and the Twins.” Lisbon told him.

Jane was sure it was a statement that would have made sense to some people. “And you don’t care about them?” he guessed.

“Two last place American League teams? No,” Lisbon confirmed. "I don't."

Jane sighed mentally. “Ah.”

“Yeah.”

He resisted the urge to grind his teeth. This conversation wasn’t going at all like he’d hoped. One, she needed a distraction, and two, well, two so did he. “You sure you don’t want to watch the game? Just for the fun of watching baseball?”

“What?” Lisbon asked, obviously a bit confused.

“Don’t some people do that?” Jane wondered. “Watch sports even if their team isn’t playing.”

Lisbon shrugged. “I don’t usually have time.”

“You have time tonight,” Jane pointed out.

“I guess,” she admitted. “But I still wasn’t planning on watching, not this game.”

“Oh,” he sighed, trying to think of another way to approach this.

Luckily, Lisbon herself gave him one. “Why are you making such a big deal out of this?”

“Just wondering,” he tried to assure her.

“Jane,” Lisbon said with an indulgent smile. “Did you want to watch baseball?”

Jane shook his head decisively. “No.” He definitely didn’t want to watch _baseball.  
_  
Lisbon raised an eyebrow. 

Jane tried not to scowl. The woman was getting far too perceptive for his liking. 

“You sure?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m sure,” Jane told her with an exaggerated sigh.

“Then what is it?” she demanded.

“I just thought you might,” he suggested weakly.

“Ah,” Lisbon said in a superior tone.

He scowled at her, tapping his fingers against the bookshelf. She needn’t be like that. He was trying to make her feel better. Among other things.

Then he saw her eyes light up. “Oh my god!”

Jane tried to play dumb. “What?”

“You’re actually fidgeting,” Lisbon told him.

He stilled immediately. “Oh, I am not.”

“Well, the closest you come to fidgeting anyway,” she insisted.

He refused to concede the point, “You’re wrong.”

“I’m not. So out with it,” she ordered.

Jane gave it one last try. “I don’t know what...”

“Out with it!” Lisbon ordered a second time, placing her hands on her hips.

Jane knew there was no way out. So he decided to tell her the truth. He looked her right in the eye. “It’s endearing,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Baseball?” Lisbon asked in confusion.

Jane shook his head slowly, a hint of a smile on his face. “No, _you._ ”

That shocked her. _“What?”  
_  
“When you watch baseball,” Jane explained. “You’re endearing.” She was. There was no other word for it.

Lisbon was obviously trying to wrap her head around the notion. “You... you like watching me watch baseball.”

“Yes,” Jane confirmed easily.

She blushed crimson. “Shut up.”

“No, it’s true,” he told her. “The usually contained Agent Lisbon, yelling at a television. I like it.”

“I hate you,” she snapped.

Jane ignored that. They both knew it was far from true anyway. “You sure you’re not interested in... Who was it? The Mariners or the Twins?”

“Yes!” Lisbon insisted a little testily.

“Shame,” Jane said with a sigh.

He could practically see the steam coming from her ears as she crossed her arms protectively in front of her. “I seriously hate you.”

“The Cubs are playing again on Saturday aren’t they?” he suggested tentatively, hoping it would act as a peace offering.

“Don’t push it,” Lisbon muttered. Then something occurred to her. “Wait, you looked up the schedule?”

Jane paused, realizing he’d been caught. He decided he didn’t care when he realized the admission and her subsequent triumph had relaxed her. He’d allow it, because he didn’t feel like dealing with her blushing and glancing away awkwardly every time she caught his eye over the next few days. “Maybe.”

“You _did_.” She said in surprise.

“I told you, I like watching baseball with you,” he reminded her. He just liked spending time with her. Getting to know her. Not that he didn’t know her obviously, but... He’d spent a lot of time with her over the years, but this was different. This wasn’t tainted with murder.

“Jane...” she said softly.

“I’ll make you nachos,” he promised.

He watched her weigh her options. Saw the second she gave in. “You’d better.”

He grinned. “Okay.”

He saw her smile slightly. “We could watch something else tonight, if you wanted,” she suggested. “What do you like to watch?”

Jane paused. “I don’t actually watch that much television.”

“Come on,” Lisbon argued. “You must watch something.”

He shrugged. “I read a lot.”

“ _Jane_ ,” she said in warning. “Come on.”

“Sometimes I watch nature shows,” he admitted.

“Nature shows?” she double-checked.

“Yeah, lions on the savannah and all that,” he told her. “But I’m not in the mood for one now. I’m wondering if I’ve gotten tired of them.”

“Oh,” Lisbon said. “Still, there’s got to be something on that you wouldn’t mind watching.”

Jane perked up. “We could try that old movie channel again.”

She sighed. “Jane, the whole point was to watch something you wanted to watch, not something I might choose.”

Jane shook his head. “But I _do_ like watching old movies.”

Lisbon looked suspicious.

“I _do_ ,” he insisted. “Just because I hadn’t seen The Shop Around the Corner doesn’t mean that I don’t like them. There are hundreds of them. I used to watch the random ones that they show late at night sometimes, when I couldn’t sleep. I like the straightforwardness of them. They’re not all straightforward, obviously, and some of them are terrible. But I even like the terrible ones; they make me laugh.”

“You really like old movies?” Lisbon asked, sounding almost hopeful.

Jane nodded. “I do. And I’d really rather that, than some kind of procedural drama, which is our most likely other option. I get enough of that during the day, Lisbon.”

“Okay,” she told him. “We can see what’s on Turner Classic Movies.”

“Okay,” he agreed, patting the couch next to him.

As she settled in beside him, he picked up the remote and switched to the movie channel. It appeared to be midway through some Spencer Tracy war movie that he was pretty sure he’d already seen. But he left it on, because it was better than the alternative. At least it would be slightly entertaining.

It wasn’t Lisbon watching baseball, but it was still good.

xxx

TBC


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

xxx

The next morning, Lisbon was actually in a reasonably good mood, for early in the morning at least. Annie had sent her an e-mail before heading off to school. It contained a thank-you for the recipe and an invitation to come visit in a month. Apparently Tommy had a long weekend a few weeks after she was due back from Oregon.

Which meant that, to Jane’s surprise, she walked down to greet him with a smile on her face.

Unfortunately, the smile didn’t last.

It was a tough day at the Oregon PD. Nothing seemed to go right. The coffee machine broke. The printers jammed. Half the city seemed to decide to commit the most petty and pointless crimes imaginable en masse. Lisbon and Jane were surrounded by disgruntled cops.

Then, Jane thought he noticed a pattern in the crime scene photos. Something about the order of the pencils on the victim’s desk. So they spent hours and hours going through all the photos and the video (most of it for the second or third time), trying to confirm, only to discover that Jane had been mistaken.

Not that he would admit that. He insisted something was up, and started obsessively staring at crime scene photos for the rest of the evening.

Lisbon half-heartedly joined him. Even Detectives Samson and Frasier joined them after a while. The four of them ordered Chinese from the restaurant around the corner.

At least the effort paid off. Even if the order of the pencils didn’t seem to be particularly significant, all four victims did have their writing utensils arranged particularly neatly. More neatly than most, Jane insisted. Apparently it was too uncommon to be a coincidence.

Lisbon promised to look into it first thing the next week. Or over the weekend if he insisted.

Jane barely acknowledged her offer, instead turning back to the file in his hands, searching for something Lisbon could only guess at.

She started packing up her own stack of files. Regardless of Jane’s plans, she wasn’t sitting hunched over a desk for another six hours. If she had to look at files, she could do it at home.

Except that she wasn’t sure she _had_ to look at files. She was worried that Jane was getting so desperate for a pattern, that he was finding things that weren’t actually there.

Almost like the real Red John.

Lisbon shivered. She needed a break. They both did.

Apparently they weren’t the only ones. Jo rolled her neck, groaning when she glanced outside and realized that it was long dark. “That’s it. We’ve been at this for hours. Time to pack up.”

“Absolutely,” Lisbon agreed ruefully. Knowing it was true didn’t make it any easier given that she still felt like they were nowhere.

“I could use a drink,” Jo murmured. “What do you say Agent? I know a great little place not far from here. Up for a little girls night?”

Lisbon grinned “Sure,” before pausing and glancing at Jane, “Uh.”

Jane smiled, detaching himself from his file to listen to the two women’s conversation. He couldn’t do anymore tonight. Things needed to percolate in the back of his brain. Better to focus on problems he could solve. He was well aware why Lisbon had paused after accepting Jo’s invitation. She was worried about abandoning him. Probably worried he was about to spend the night brooding and would need to be saved from himself. He wasn’t, so he decided to be extra encouraging. Jo’s friendship was good for her, for both women actually. Jane could see it every time they were in the same room. “I think that’s a great idea. Plus, it’ll give me a chance to do all sorts of unhealthy things that I wouldn’t dare with you watching over me, Lisbon”

“Oh yes, I’ve always been able to prevent you from doing things you didn’t want to,” Lisbon said wryly.

Now it was Jo’s turn to realize the reason Lisbon’s temporary hesitation. It made her smile. It was rather sweet, how protective the apparently tough (and often prickly) Agent was of her unorthodox consultant. “Yeah, we’ll leave you boys to your own devices,” Jo said, causally fishing for information (and a possible solution). “What are you up to tonight, Samson?”

“Dinner with my mother in law,” Samson replied with a sigh, only too aware what Jo was driving at. “You’re welcome to join us Jane, but I don’t think you want to. If you’re interested in a little fun though, last I heard some of the guys from Petey’s division had a poker game on tonight, and I think Robinson had to bail out with the stomach flu, so they’ve got an extra spot.”

Jane’s eyes lit up.

Lisbon’s eyes clouded over. “No!” she said firmly.

Jane just grinned at her.

“Jane!” she said, trying not to laugh. “What happened to you not daring to do things I disapprove of?”

“That might have been a slight exaggeration,” he admitted cheerfully. 

“No kidding,” she agreed with a sigh, knowing full well that she’d already lost the argument anyway. Time for damage control. “Try to remember that we’re guests here. Remember what Director Stephens said about causing an interagency incident?”

“That I should really reach for the sky and try and bring down the whole department?” Jane asked. 

“ _Jane,”_ she warned.

“Relax Lisbon,” Jane said, trying to pacify her. “I’ll be good. I’ll even give them an advantage if you like. Offer to play for 50 cents to the dollar.”

“They won’t like that,” Samson interjected. 

“Oh, I didn’t think they would,” Jane admitted cheerfully. “Still, I’ll offer.”

“You’re awfully confident,” Jo said with a laugh.

Lisbon let her head drop to her hands briefly. “Please Jane, I’m begging you. I don’t want to have to bail you out of jail tonight.”

“Lisbon,” he told her with mock seriousness. “I give my word. I’ll do my level best not to get arrested. If it does happen, it’ll mean that it was completely unavoidable.”

“Oh god,” she murmured.

“Come on, Jane,” Samson said, clapping him on the back. “I’ll introduce you to Petey.”

Lisbon watched the two men walk away, dread settling into her stomach.

“I guess now would be a bad time to point out that sometimes the Chief goes to that game,” Jo said quietly.

Lisbon let her head fall back into her hands in despair. “We’re doomed.”

Jo grinned. “Whereas I just think this means that it’s time to get you that drink.”

Finding a smile of her own, Lisbon grabbed her jacket and followed Jo out of the office, resolving to try not to worry. Jane had been right about one thing. Neither of them could work solid for a month. And Jo was right, a drink did sound good. She deserved to relax for a night, particularly since it was Friday. The two women passed Samson introducing Jane to a rather large man whom Lisbon could only assume was Petey. Jane sent her a thumbs up and an absurd grin as she passed. She smiled back, couldn’t help it.

“You like him,” Jo murmured beside her.

Lisbon looked over curiously. “Hm?”

“Jane,” the other woman specified. “In spite of his, well, everything. You’re fond of him.”

Lisbon shrugged. “We’ve been working together for a decade, even if I can’t quite believe I’ve lasted that long. You think this is bad? This is nothing. I could tell you stories...”

“Let’s wait until we get a few drinks in you first,” Jo replied, heading towards a bar about a block and a half from the station.

Lisbon smirked. “Anyway, when I first met him I didn’t think I’d make it a month.”

“I bet,” Jo said. “I think I’d have killed him.”

“It crossed my mind,” Lisbon admitted. “More than once.”

Jo grinned. “Of course it did. You’re sensible.”

“He solves a lot of cases though,” Lisbon explained, almost as an afterthought. It’d become a kind of refrain over the years.

Jo snickered. “Guess he’s lucky he’s useful.”

Lisbon laughed.

Jo paused before figuring that since she’d started this, she may as well continue. Besides, she was curious. “He’s fond of you too, you know.”

Lisbon glanced over, “Who, Jane?”

Jo resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “That is who we’re talking about.”

Lisbon shrugged, unconcerned by the observation. “Like I said, we’ve known each other a decade.”

“That’s a long time,” Jo admitted.

“Yeah, well, somewhere along the way we became friends, I guess,” Lisbon told her. “Or something like that.”

“I guess this job does bring unlikely people close together,” Jo agreed, opening the door to the Black Duke. It wasn’t exactly fancy, but it was also loud enough that you felt social and quiet enough that even on a Friday night that you didn’t have to worry about constantly fending off guys hoping to get lucky. In other words, perfect for drinks with a friend after a long week.

Lisbon liked the look of the bar. The two women had no trouble finding a table in the corner. They ordered drinks from the waitress and fell into easy conversation about the baseball game on television.

The subject didn’t come back around to Jane until hours later, when both women were a few drinks in. “So, we really not gonna talk about it?” Jo asked.

“Talk about what?” Lisbon wondered.

“Your consultant, Agent Lisbon,” Jo replied, leaning forward.

Lisbon grinned. “Thought we’d already covered him. Agreed he was a pain in the ass who’s lucky to be alive.”

“Yes, but a very handsome pain in the ass,” Jo pointed out.

Lisbon swallowed her drink more quickly than she’d intended.

“I mean, doesn’t matter who you are, or how long you’ve known him. S’hard not to notice. And after all, isn’t this the sort of thing women are supposed to talk about at a bar?” Jo wondered. 

“I’m probably the wrong person to ask about that,” Lisbon admitted.

Jo waved a hand in the air, obviously ignoring the last remark. “Not that I didn’t enjoy swapping stories about dealing with the incompetent, sexist, chauvinistic, good ol' boys of the profession. But that’s not the point. You really gonna try and tell me you haven’t noticed? I mean, professionalism aside…”

Lisbon grinned. “Why Detective, are you honestly asking me whether I find my consultant, a man I work with in a strictly professional capacity, attractive? And after judging some of our male colleagues for doing the same thing?”

Jo frowned in resignation. “Well, when you put it like that… You did say you were friends though.”

“Exactly,” Lisbon agreed. “Friends.” Jane was a friend and sometimes confidante. Their relationship was lovely; she wouldn’t change it for the world. She didn’t want to. Besides, he wasn’t exactly known for his stability.

Jo seemed mildly depressed by that answer though. It only took a second before she perked up. “Still, objectively, he is easy on the eyes. I’m just sayin’.”

“Mmhm,” Lisbon agreed. “Nice smile too. Objectively.”

Jo crowed triumphantly. “I knew it.”

Lisbon shrugged, for some reason unconcerned by the admission. Maybe because she’d admitted it to herself years ago. She’d known Jane for so long. He was attractive, and yes, she was attracted to him; it was just something that came with him now. “Still want to punch him in the nose half the time.”

“And ruin those teeth? No one could blame you,” Jo agreed.

“Maybe make that nose a little crooked,” Lisbon added. “Although, it seems fairly resilient to that sort of thing.”

Jo giggled. “You’ve seen fit to test its strength over the years?” she asked.

“With my right hook,” Lisbon confirmed. “Me and at least a dozen other people that I’ve seen.”

Jo dissolved into laughter, which Lisbon was only too glad to join in. When she calmed down, Jo glanced at her watch. “Ugh, is that the time? Unfortunately, as much fun as this has been, I should probably be getting home. Thank god it’s Friday. I’ll call get us a couple of cabs. Pick up my car at work tomorrow.”

Lisbon shook her head. “No need,” she insisted. “Jane will come get us.”

Jo glanced at her watch sceptically. “It’s after midnight. If he’s still playing poker, there’s a fairly good chance he’s not fit to drive either. If he’s done for the night, fairly good chance he’s asleep.”

Lisbon was already dialling. “He rarely drinks, and he’s a bit of an insomniac. Besides, he may be pretty, but he still has to make himself useful.”

Jo was laughing again when Jane answered the phone.

“I suppose you ladies would like a ride,” he said dryly.

“If it’s not too much trouble,” Lisbon told him.

“No trouble at all,” Jane assured her. “I thought it best to bow out of poker early anyway.”

She groaned. “Oh god, Jane. What did you do and how bad is it?”

“Not bad at all,” he assured her. “Did you not hear me? I made my excuses before it got to that point. Actually, I used you and your slave-driving tendencies as the reason.”

“ _Excellent,_ ” Lisbon replied in pleasure.

“I thought you’d like that,” Jane agreed. “And you thought you had no influence over me.”

Lisbon didn’t realize she was smiling. “So you’ll come get us?”

“I can call a cab,” Jo interjected, distracting Lisbon from Jane’s reply.

Lisbon turned towards her, a frown on her face. “Don’t be absurd. Jane can drive you home. He doesn’t mind.”

“I don’t,” Jane agreed in Lisbon’s ear.

“It’s out of your way,” Jo insisted weakly, suddenly reminded that back in California, the woman standing next to her was in charge of a very successful team.

“How far out of the way?” Lisbon demanded.

Jo shrugged, preparing to concede. “Ten minutes.”

Lisbon didn’t justify that with an answer. “We’ll be waiting in front of the Black Duke,” she told Jane. “It’s about a block and a half from the station.”

“I know where it is,” Jane assured her.

“Wait a minute,” Lisbon said, suddenly remembering. “How are you going to get here? I have the car keys.”

“I pick-pocketed them from your jacket before you left the station,” Jane told her cheerfully.

“ _What!”_ Lisbon replied scandalized, rummaging through her pockets before realizing he was right.

“Oh, now don’t be like that Lisbon,” Jane wheedled. “Look how well things turned out. Now you don’t have to worry about driving, which obviously you’d never do anyway, or leaving the car overnight. And you don’t have to call a cab. I think I’ve sorted everything out for the best.”

“I hate you,” she told him, even if (or probably because) he was right.

“No, you don’t,” Jane replied cheerfully. “See you shortly, dear.”

Lisbon was still grumbling under her breath when she hung up the phone. “Jane will be here soon,” she told Jo.

“Just like that?” Jo asked, bemused. 

Lisbon nodded. “Why not? He stole my keys though.”

“Well, that’s good isn’t it?” Jo wondered. “If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been able to drive the car.”

Lisbon glared at her.

“I mean, that’s horrible,” Jo corrected quickly, trying not to laugh. “That bastard.”

“Exactly,” Lisbon agreed. “He _knows_ I hate it when he picks my pockets.”

Jo paused for a minute, trying to assimilate that information, before giving up, deciding to blame her confusion on the three rum and cokes. “He picks pockets too?”

“Oh, what doesn’t he do?” Lisbon muttered. “He’s enough to drive you insane.”

“He does come when you call, though,” Jo pointed out.

Lisbon shrugged. “Sure, he’s my partner.”

Jo grinned. “A few minutes ago he was your _consultant_ , in a strictly _professional capacity_.”

Lisbon groaned. “Oh stop. We’re friends. I told you, I’ve known him a decade. You’re a cop; you know what it’s like.”

Jo let Lisbon lead them out of the bar after tipping the bartender, only to find Jane waiting at the curb, leaning against the SUV and grinning inanely as he made an exaggerated show of opening the passenger gesturing Lisbon inside. Instead of going in gracefully, Lisbon immediately started to bicker with him about something or other. As Jane opened her own door, Jo thought she heard the word pickpocket come out of the other woman’s mouth, an accusation that only resulted in an elegant shrug from her Jane. Still, Jo noticed both of them were smiling mere seconds later.

Shaking her head, Jo climbed into the backseat, Lisbon’s words echoing in her head. _“I’ve known him a decade. You’re a cop; you know what it’s like.”  
_  
She smiled when Jane produced a pair of orders of French fries from the console between the seats and passed one to each of them. Watching Lisbon’s eyes positively light up when they met her consultant's, Jo decided that no, she really didn’t know what it was like at all.

“So, where to, Detective?” Jane asked cheerfully.

“I’m on Rosebush,” Jo told him. “It’s just off Main. Thanks for the ride, Jane.”

“It’s not a problem,” Jane assured her, as he pulled away from the curb. “I had to come pick up this one, anyway,” he said gesturing to Lisbon.

Lisbon paused in picking at her French fries to glare at him. “ _This one?”_ she asked. “And anyway, you didn’t _have_ to. I _asked_ you to. I would have been perfectly capable of calling a cab. And how many times have I come to pick you up when your stupid car’s broken down? In places that were way farther away than that bar.”

Jane was grinning. “I’ll rephrase,” he told her. “I was coming to pick up the absolutely lovely Agent Lisbon anyway, so it’s no problem to drop you off at the same time, Detective.”

“Damn right you were coming to pick me up,” Lisbon grumbled.

“Of course I was,” Jane agreed. “I wanted to.”

“Plus, you have to make yourself useful,” Jo agreed with a smirk, trying to catch Lisbon’s eye. “After all, what happens when your looks go?”

To Jane’s surprise, both women fell to giggling. He’d obviously missed something, though he could make a good guess as to what that was. The idea that they’d discussed him (and apparently his looks) intrigued him. “Are you saying I should consider a back-up career as a taxi service?” he asked Jo.

Jo shrugged. “Maybe.”

“And what about you?” he asked, turning to Lisbon.

She smiled. “I don’t know, you’re not too bad at your current job, I guess.”

“Well, thank you Lisbon,” Jane told her candidly. “Does that mean you think I’m pretty enough for it still?”

Jo’s laughter from the back seat told Jane he’d guessed something near the truth. It seemed the two women had been gossiping. He was flattered to have been one of their chosen subjects. After all, what man wouldn’t want two smart, beautiful women discussing him over drinks?

Lisbon eyed him critically, obviously trying not to be embarrassed (Jane suspected the alcohol in her system was helping with that). “I don’t know. I think you’ve got another few years yet,” she told him eventually.

Jane grinned and turned down Jo’s street. “Thank you Lisbon, that’s good to know. Alright, Detective,” he asked. “Which one is yours?”

Jane watched the two women say goodbye outside Jo’s building. To his surprise, a hug was involved. Sure, Jo had instigated it, but that wasn’t the point. Teresa Lisbon was apparently on hugging terms with their local liaison. And she always thought she wasn’t great at the social stuff. Which was interesting, given how many people really liked her.

He was glad she’d met Jo.

“What?” Lisbon demanded when she caught him glancing at her.

“Nothing,” He assured her.

“No, seriously, what?” Lisbon asked, poking him in the arm.

Jane shrugged. “You look happy.”

Lisbon bit her lip. “I am happy.”

“Good,” Jane agreed.

Lisbon glanced towards him. “Leaving early aside, did you have a good time at the poker game?”

“I did,” Jane agreed. “Not as much fun as you did, from the looks of it, but...”

“That’s nice,” Lisbon told him. “So how much did you win?”

Jane shrugged. “Enough to make an impression, but not so much to become problematic. I promise.”

“Good,” Lisbon agreed. “Thank you for the French fries.”

“You’re welcome,” he told her. “I thought you ladies might want a little end of the night snack.” 

“I’m ready to go home and sleep now, though,” Lisbon admitted.

Jane nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay,” she replied, leaning her head against the window.

“Hey Lisbon?” Jane asked.

“Mmm?”

“Are we still going to watch baseball tomorrow?” Jane double-checked.

He knew she was smiling even without looking at her. “Whatever you want, Jane,” she told him sleepily.

xxx

Saturday morning, Jane started making the nachos while Lisbon busied herself fixing the slight wobble in the closet door, the one that Jane had only made worse when he was shoving the vacuum back inside. Luckily, it wasn’t a difficult problem, just a matter of getting the door back on its track and screwing the hinges in more firmly.

Lisbon was quite pleased with herself when it was done, walking over to the couch to turn on the television and find the Cubs game.

A few moments later, Jane wandered over and set a plate of nachos and cheese in front of her. “Did I miss anything?” he asked as he lay down on the couch.

Lisbon shook her head. “Nah, it just started.”

Jane nodded as he settled in. He knew he hadn’t missed anything. She’d been too quiet for anything exciting to have happened.

“Here,” Lisbon said, tossing something at him.

Jane caught it in one hand. It was a Cubs hat. He grinned. “I assume this is mandatory attire,” he murmured.

Lisbon nodded. “Absolutely.”

Jane sighed and put it on his head. “I also assume that I look ridiculous.”

Lisbon glanced at him and smiled. “Well, that’s just a side benefit.”

“And after you and Jo seemed so concerned about my potentially fading good looks last night,” Jane lamented.

“Shut up, Jane,” Lisbon muttered.

“I’m just saying, it seemed to be a concern,” Jane continued.

“I’ll show you a concern...” she replied.

“Not that I’m not flattered” Jane said. “I am. And I’m just trying to look out for your interests; mine too come to think of it.”

Lisbon stared determinedly at the television.

“So, what do you think my best feature is?” Jane asked. “I’ve been told I have nice eyes, and this hat might cover them. Of course, you’re the only one here, and you probably know what they look like.”

Lisbon could feel her cheeks getting warm. “ _Jane..._ ”

Jane wisely changed the subject. “I assume you just happened to have this on you,” he observed, gesturing to his cap

Lisbon shrugged. “Never know when you might need one,”

“Of course,” Jane agreed with exaggerated seriousness.

Lisbon ignored him, pulling something else out from between the cushions of the chair. “I got you this too,” she added, handing it to him. “In case you get bored.”

Jane highly doubted that would happen, but he accepted her gift. It was a book of crossword puzzles. Well, that was perfect. They would keep his mind occupied while still allowing him to watch the woman next to him. “Thank you, Lisbon,” he told her.

“Whatever,” she muttered. “I don’t need you staring at me for the next few hours.”

Jane didn’t bother to tell her he could do both. Instead he watched as Lisbon practically jumped off of her chair in excitement. It appeared that her team had scored.

Smiling to himself, he opened his new book. Then his eyes lit up. Maybe Lisbon would be able to help him with the sports clues...

xxx

TBC


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

xxx

The next Sunday morning, Jane didn’t comment when Lisbon headed off to mass again. He didn’t even comment when she opened a stack of files when she got back. He’d spent most of the morning trying to figure out what was bothering him about this case. Or rather, what they were missing. He was sure there was something; he just couldn’t put his finger on what that was.

Still, he did demand that they take a break mid-afternoon. To his surprise, Lisbon casually suggested the theater in one of the local parks. Jane smiled, only to happy to accompany her. He hadn’t thought she’d be a big Shakespeare fan.

It was only midway through the first act, as he lounged next o her on the blanket she’d sensibly thought to bring, that he remembered. She wasn’t a big Shakespeare fan at all. She’d somehow guessed that he was. He glanced down at her affectionately. Sneaky woman. Tentatively he shifted slightly closer to her, pleased when she leaned towards him slightly in response.

xxx

Their third week brought with it the familiar frustrations of an all too perfect serial killer. Lisbon was getting frustrated, and that was making her grumpy. On Monday morning, she barely said six words to her consultant before they arrived at the station. Not that Jane was much better, retreating deeper into his head, searching for that missing link, while Lisbon searched for outside distractions.

On Tuesday, while Lisbon fell to helping Jo on another one of her cases to distract herself, Jane went for a walk around Oregon, trying to clear his head. He ended up wandering the path of the crime scenes, trying to decipher a pattern to this second almost-too-perfect serial killer. Unfortunately, it started to pour midway through his walk, causing an already grumpy Lisbon to scold him for the rest of the afternoon about the foolishness of making himself ill.

He didn’t bother trying to tell her that a person couldn’t actually get a cold from walking in the rain. She was getting frustrated, they both were. Maybe she just needed to yell.

That evening, when she noticed him staring out the windows again, she simply sighed and handed him a brand new umbrella.

And when he got home a few hours later, he found that she’d left him stew in a crock pot to warm him up.

xxx

 

Wednesday was sunny, and while the improved weather had a similar effect on Jane and Lisbon’s moods, they were both still feeling a bit off.

“Are you still staring at that photo?” Lisbon asked Jane in disbelief.

He frowned. “I’m telling you, Lisbon. Something’s wrong with these pencils.”

Lisbon turned towards him. “But what? We checked the other photos, no one else had pencils arranged that way.”

Jane waved a hand at her, dismissing her silly objections based on things like practicality and reality. He was sure he was right, somehow. He just wasn’t sure _why_. Lisbon could be very hung up on _why_ , and also _so what_. Until he figured one of those out, she would continue to be sceptical.

Jane leaned back on his chaise longue to think.

Minutes later, Jo stepped into the room. Lisbon was pleased to see her until she took one look at Jo’s face and her heart sank.

“He’s killed again, hasn’t he?” she asked, not entirely sure how she’d known. Possibly because she’d seen a version of that face too many times to count over the last decade.

Jo nodded, her eyes tired. “I’m afraid so. A woman eight blocks from here. Her roommate found her. She’d been away for an extra-long weekend, came home this morning and got the shock of her life. I thought I’d grab you before heading over.”

Lisbon and Jane were standing before she’d even finished speaking. “Do you want to drive, or do you want me to?” Lisbon asked.

“Samson’s already on scene,” Jo told them. “He lives practically around the corner. So I’ll jump in with you two.”

“Then let’s go,” Lisbon said decisively.

Jane simply followed the two women out, still lost in thought.

xxx

They arrived at the scene and went to check in with Detective Samson. He was still waiting to speak to the roommate, who was trying to collect herself, so they went into the bedroom. The victim, Molly Sims, looked like all the others had, spread out on the bed with a bullet in her forehead, the eye in exactly the same place.

“Forensics are sweeping the room,” Jo told them. “For all the good it’ll do.”

“I suppose he could have made a mistake the fifth time around,” Lisbon said. “But it’s unlikely.”

“Not this guy,” Jo agreed. “He’s too careful.

Jane left the two women and began to wander around the room, their voices fading into the background as they discussed the case. It looked like a typical bedroom of a young single woman, but... But. There was definitely a but. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something. The killer must have been watching her, at least closely enough to know that her roommate wasn’t home. Not that it took a huge amount of time to shoot someone and drop them on a bed, but…

He turned into the living room, suddenly sick of looking at the poor woman on the bed and glanced around. The main living area was definitely lived in. Definitely two occupants. There were two personalities in the apartment, one much neater than the other. The living room was a definite mix of clutter and order, like someone tried to keep things neat, but someone else just couldn’t measure up to the system. Having seen the victim’s room, he guessed the roommate was the slob.

Kristy Jenkins certainly looked torn up from her place by Detective Samson on the couch. Jane could barely make out snatches of their conversation.

“I should call her mother,” the girl hiccupped. “I know you guys usually do that, but…”

“She’s on her way,” Samson assured her. “You can speak to her then. In the mean time, if there’s anything you remember, anything different? New? New friends?”

“No,” Kristy hiccupped. “Nothing like that. She broke up with her boyfriend a few months ago, but he wouldn’t do anything like this. He wasn’t the best boyfriend, lost his job and wanted to lay on the couch all day, refused to even look for work. He was lazy and stuff, but he wouldn’t do this. Anyway, Molls hadn’t really started dating again yet. Said she needed a break from men. I wondered if she was giving him time to get his act together. But I swear, he wouldn’t do this. As far as I know, they were still friendly.”

“We’ll check him out,” Detective Samson said. “But you’re probably right. Anything else new?”

“Not that I know of,” Kristy replied. “I’ve been away since Friday night. Molls said she was thinking of going to a movie this weekend. Nothing too exciting.”

“What about the apartment?” the Detective asked.

Kristy shrugged. “Like I said, I was gone all weekend. It looked like she cleaned her room, but…”

That caught Jane’s attention. “I’m sorry what did you say?” he asked.

Kristy looked up. “What?”

“Patrick Jane,” he said, extending a hand. “I’m a consultant on the case. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” the teary-eyed woman murmured.

“Could you repeat what you just said?” Jane asked.

“I said, it looked like she’d just cleaned her room,” Kristy said. “Usually it was way messier than that. I used to tease her about it. I’m a bit of a neat freak. Molls was so much more laid back…”

The wheels in Jane’s head started turning. Having seen the room, he’d assumed Molly was the neat roommate, but… He glanced around and saw the second bedroom. “Is this your room?” he asked, pointing to the door.

“Yes,” Kristy said sounding confused. 

“Do you mind if I take a look?” Jane asked.

“No,” Kristy said. “Why? Oh god. You don’t think he went in my room too, do you?”

“It’s unlikely,” Jane told her. “I’m just checking something.” He opened the door, and sure enough, Kristy’s room was immaculate. Molly hadn’t been the neat roommate at all. “Lisbon!” he called.

She’d already walked into the living room behind him without him realizing it. “What is it?” she asked.

“Agent Teresa Lisbon meet Kristy, Molly’s roommate,” Jane introduced her.

“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Lisbon said automatically. “Jane?”

“Molly was messy,” Jane told her, holding the door open. “Kristy was the neat one.”

Lisbon closed her eyes. “The pencils.”

Jane nodded. “The pencils.”

“What’s going on?” Jo asked, walking up behind them.

Lisbon sighed.

“He tidied the room,” Jane told her triumphantly.

xxx

An hour later, Lisbon, Jane, Jo and Samson were back in their little room at the station. Jane was proudly showing off his photos. “Look at the pencils in that jar,” he said. “They’re grouped according to colour and size. Nothing else in the room is anywhere near that organized.”

“Not all of Molly’s room was that organized,” Samson pointed out.

“No,” Jane agreed. “But parts of it were. The clothes in her closet for example. I checked with the roommate. They weren’t usually colour-coded. And the whole room was neater than usual, like he couldn’t bear to leave a victim in a place that messy.”

“He is all about showing off his control and his intelligence,” Lisbon mused. “If he was a bit of a neat-freak…”

“Oh, I think it’s more than that,” Jane told her. “I’d say mild OCD at least, and it’s getting more pronounced with each murder.”

“It could also explain the complete lack of forensic evidence,” Lisbon mused. “If he’s obsessed with cleanliness and detail.”

“So he’s a neat freak who gets off on how much smarter he is than us,” Samson said in frustration. “You wanna tell me how that helps us?”

“It’s more than we had yesterday,” Jo said diplomatically.

“Yeah, but unless we’re gonna cross-reference people diagnosed with OCD with members of Mensa…” Samson grumbled.

Lisbon and Jane shared a look. “It’s not the worst idea in the world…” Lisbon told him. “If he cares that much about people knowing how smart he is... and you already said he’d be a member of a society like that.”

Jane nodded, acknowledging the point. “Unfortunately, I suspect the list of people with mild compulsive tendencies with above average IQs is probably longer than we’d like.”

Lisbon groaned. Then she perked up. “Wait, he _cleaned_ the room.”

“Yes, we’ve established that,” Samson said somewhat sarcastically.

“No,” Lisbon said. “That’s not… How messy was it before? Do we have pictures?”

Jane shrugged. “No, not exactly. But I asked the roommate, and she did tend to imply that if you could see a quarter of the floor, the room was neat by Molly’s standards.”

“Right,” Lisbon agreed. “And there wasn’t so much as a candy wrapper on it when we saw it. That amount of cleaning takes some serious time.”

“Yeah, but the roommate was out of town,” Jo pointed out. “He had all the time in the world.”

“But how did he know the roommate was going to be out of town?” Lisbon asked. “How did he know that he’d have all that time? This guy wouldn’t have left it up to chance. So either he knew the victim beforehand, which we think is probably unlikely, or…”

“He knew the roommate, or at least knew she was going to be gone,” Samson said.

“Two of the other victims had roommates,” Lisbon pointed out. “Anyone ever check them for a connection?”

Jo paused. “I don’t know if we ever did. I mean, there wasn’t anything obvious, or we’d have noticed, but…”

“Then we should probably look now,” Lisbon told her. She turned towards Jane, who was heading back to his chaise longue. “And what are you doing?”

“Well you seem to have this well in hand,” Jane told her.

“Jane…” she warned.

“I need to think, Lisbon,” he told her. “But be sure and let me know if you find anything.”

She chose not to dignify that with a response.

xxx

A couple hours later, Lisbon felt Jane at her elbow.

She turned towards him.

“The eye,” he said succinctly.

“Yes,” Lisbon agreed. “What about it?”

“What do you think it means?” Jane asked.

“I don’t know,” Lisbon said. “This guy likes to think he’s smart, so maybe it’s something about how he sees everything and knows all. Who knows? It could be a Lord of the Rings reference!”

Jane cocked his head to the side. “That’s actually not bad, Lisbon. We should consider that our killer might be a Lord of the Rings fan.”

“You’re not serious,” Lisbon said, feeling a strange compulsion to laugh.

“I am,” Jane agreed. “Might help in the confession phase, if we catch him.”

“What’re you going to do?” Lisbon asked. “Speak to him in elvish? See if he breaks?”

“I might,” Jane defended. “I’d have to learn it first, but…”

Lisbon sighed. “The eye?”

“Well, if it’s not a Lord of the Ring’s reference, what are eyes for, Lisbon?” Jane asked.

She glared at him. “Looking at people.”

Jane wasn’t impressed. “Come on, you can do better than that.”

“I already came up with Lord of the Rings,” Lisbon reminded him.

“Fine,” Jane grumbled. “Looking, or watching.”

“You think he was watching them?” Lisbon asked.

“Possibly,” Jane said. “He did know she was alone.”

“But we didn’t see anything suspicious on any of the available surveillance footage,” Lisbon pointed out. “Not that there is much.”

“Have you compared surveillance footage between murders?” Jane asked. “Seen if anything pops up more than once? And if he was watching them for a while, you might have to go back more than a couple hours.”

Lisbon groaned. That was going to take hours. “That is going to take forever.”

Jane shrugged. “Talk to Jo. Delegate it out. There seem to be plenty of police officers running around this place.”

Lisbon was already on her feet in search of their local liaison.

Jane went back to his chaise longue. He smiled as he lay down. He certainly wouldn’t miss it when the case was solved. His couch at the CBI was way better.

xxx

Well, never let it be said that Lisbon wasn’t diligent. Jane had to drag her away from the surveillance footage; he was fairly certain she wouldn’t have left willingly. As it was, she was murmuring something about a blue van that she swore she’d seen before.

Jane promised her that they’d double-check tomorrow, after they interviewed the ex-boyfriend, who’d been out of town.

He’d sent her to bed looking half exhausted, so it was with some surprise that he heard movement in the kitchen when he walked downstairs the next morning. 

“You’re up early,” he commented, seeing Lisbon flitting around the counter. He’d beaten her down every other day they’d been in Portland.

“Couldn’t sleep,” she told him. “I’m too wired.”

“We’ll get him,” Jane promised her, picking up the tea she’d obviously left out for him, pleased to see that it was still warm. He wasn’t sure how she’d known he was due to come down, but didn’t ask.

“Hmm,” Lisbon said. “I woke up just after five this morning, and I couldn’t get back to sleep, so eventually I gave up. Do you want eggs?”

Jane glanced over her shoulder at the scrambled eggs she was cooking. She’d obviously anticipated his answer, because there were way too many eggs for one person in the pan. “Sure,” he told her. “Have you already put the toast in?”

Lisbon shook her head. “No. Well, I made some, but not enough. You should make more.”

“Okay,” Jane agreed, locating the already opened bread on the counter.

“I need to check the surveillance footage,” Lisbon told him, grabbing two plates and splitting the eggs between them. “I’m sure I saw a blue van on it more than once.”

“Okay,” Jane told her. “After we interview the boyfriend. And who knows, maybe one of the Detectives found something.”

“Maybe,” Lisbon agreed. She didn’t sound hopeful.

“We will get him,” Jane repeated.

She looked unconvinced. “You’ve said that before,” she reminded him.

Jane nodded. “Yes Lisbon, but remember, this guy isn’t actually Red John.”

That made her smile slightly. “No, I guess he isn’t.”

xxx

TBC


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

xxx

Lisbon’s temporary smile was just that, temporary. All traces of it were wiped off her face by their interview with Molly Sims’ ex-boyfriend. Not only was the man obviously distraught (he’d been hopeful of a reconciliation in the near future), but he’d been out of town, and hadn’t been in enough contact with Molly in recent weeks to notice if anything had been strange. By the end of the interview he’d almost completely shut down thanks to a combination of grief and guilt.

The rest of the morning wasn’t much better as the pair interviewed a number of Molly’s colleagues and friends. None of them had noticed anything suspicious, although that was generally to be expected with their current killer.

Needless to say, Lisbon wasn’t in a particularly optimistic mood when they arrived back at the station and she cued up her surveillance footage.

Jane just went back to his couch, puzzling something over in his mind. After about an hour, he wondered if maybe watching the footage over Lisbon’s shoulder would help. Maybe he would see what she was missing. And maybe the distraction would help him realize what was eluding him.

On the other hand, he might only succeed in irritating her.

That was when Detective Samson found him. Lisbon looked up as he walked into the room.

“We should wait for Jo,” he told her. “She’ll be along in a second.”

Lisbon nodded.

Jo walked in behind him. “I’m here,” she told the group.

Samson nodded. “I looked into the roommates,” he told them, passing around copies of a file. “Victims three and four had them,” he explained. “And I couldn’t find any obvious connection between them. They work in different places, live in different neighbourhoods as we know, different religions, no obvious family connection...”

“But,” Lisbon asked, sensing that something else was coming.

Samson didn’t disappoint her. “But, and this is going to sound a bit crazy, they use the same insurance office.”

Lisbon looked up in surprise. “The same insurance office?”

Samson nodded. “I know. I wouldn’t have caught it myself, except that one of them mentioned it in their statements, and it’s the same insurance office where Lucy Ferris, the first victim worked.”

Lisbon raised her eyebrows. “We thought the first victim might be significant,” she murmured.

“Yeah,” Samson agreed before continuing. “Anyway, the second victim also used that insurance office directly.”

“He probably moved to roommates after his second victim, because he figured we’d make the connection if all his victims had the same insurance office,” Jane agreed.

“Yup,” Samson added. “Only problem is, it’s a damn big office, hundreds of employees. More if you count all the support staff.”

“Who we have to count,” Lisbon murmured. “Anyone in that building could have heard about client’s holidays. After all, you chat with your insurance agent about that sort of thing, don’t you?”

Jo nodded. “Or their receptionist. It’s the problem with small talk. I don’t suppose we’re lucky enough that they have the same insurance agent?”

Samson shook his head. “Nope, all different.”

“Lucy Ferris probably knew the killer, whoever they are,” Lisbon mused. “Given that she worked at the firm.”

“Second victim’s insurance agent is the most likely killer,” Jane pointed out. “Assuming the second murder was someone he had easy access too, given that she was the only victim who was a direct client of the firm.”

“Our second victim’s agent is also a woman in her sixties,” Samson told him. “I suppose it’s possible she’s our killer, but...”

“Unlikely,” Lisbon interrupted. “Still, someone better interview her again.”

“I’ll go,” Jo told her. “You guys were out all morning.”

“You should probably cross-reference the list of employees with people who were in Mensa,” Jane told Detective Samson. “Also, people who have mild OCD, if possible.”

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” Samson agreed.

“Check people who drive light blue vans,” Lisbon added.

All three people turned towards her.

“I’ve been going over this footage for hours,” she told them. “And I’ve seen what looks like the same blue van at three of the crime scenes a couple of hours before the murders. I can’t see a license plate, and I know it’s a long shot, but...”

“I’ll check it,” Samson promised her. “Let me know if you find anything else. Either of you.”

“Right,” Jo said. “Okay, I’m going to talk to Lucy Ferris’ insurance agent. I’ll see to you guys later.”

With that, the two detectives left the room, each intent on their respective tasks.

“You know,” Jane said, breaking the silence. “If we do find him, this guy isn’t going to come quietly.”

Lisbon sighed. “I know. Or he might be one of the types who does come quietly, and plays dumb thinking he can outsmart us.”

Jane grinned. “Well, that’s not likely, is it?”

She just chuckled and went back to her surveillance footage.

xxx

A couple of hours later, the four were reconvening.

This time Jo started. “ I went to talk to our second victim’s agent, and found that she was actually out of town at the time of Lucy’s murder. Not only that, but while she was out of down, she’d assigned her caseload to a more junior agent, Clive Morris.”

“That was when Jo called me,” Samson told Lisbon and Jane. “I ran Mr. Norris through a couple of databases. I can’t get his medical records until tomorrow. Waiting for a request to get them unsealed to go through. I did find out that he drives a light blue van and joined Mensa when he was in college. His IQ is well above average.”

“But he still holds a junior position at the Insurance firm,” Lisbon mused.

“Great!” Jane replied. “Let’s go pick him up.”

The three police officers in the room exchanged a look. “We can’t go pick him up yet, Jane,” Lisbon explained patiently.

“Why not?” he demanded.

She sighed. “If the order for permission to get his medical files isn’t coming through until tomorrow morning, I’m guessing the warrant to search his apartment isn’t coming through until then either,” she replied, looking to Detective Samson for confirmation.

Samson nodded. “Exactly. And we need the warrant.”

“We need to search his place to see if he got careless there, and we find something that ties him to the murder.”

Jane shrugged. “You almost certainly won’t, but okay.”

“We still have to do it,” Lisbon reminded him. “If all else fails, we try to get a confession.”

“Okay,” Jane agreed with a shrug.

“Meet back here tomorrow morning then?” Lisbon asked, glancing at her watch. She was guessing there wasn’t anything else they could do tonight.

The other’s nodded.

She and Jane headed back to the bungalow. Lisbon suggested an early dinner. She hadn’t eaten much for lunch, and she was determined to get a good night’s sleep. She needed one after the night before.

Jane was fine with an early dinner, so Lisbon started making spaghetti, unsurprised when Jane slipped in beside her to cut up some broccoli to go with it.

Dinner was reasonably quiet, both lost in their own thoughts. Lisbon tried to tell herself she was caught up in the case, Jane too. But she knew it wasn’t true. With the case wrapping up, both were only too aware that their time in Oregon was coming to an end. Lisbon had mixed feelings about it. She’d be glad to get back home, see her condo again, check in with her team, but she’d miss parts of Oregon. She and Jane had developed a comfortable rhythm in their little bungalow, and she’d miss Jo of course, and well, okay, mostly she’d miss Jane. It was nice to have someone around all the time, even if just for a little while.

She shook herself slightly. But going home would be good too. She liked living alone. She liked her independence. Once she got used to it again, she’d be fine.

Lisbon only realized that she’d finished eating when Jane stood to put their plates on the counter. She stood to help him wash the dishes, automatically reaching for the dishtowel when he started to fill the sink.

When they were done, he turned towards her. “Want to see if there’s a movie on TV?” he asked quietly.

Lisbon smiled softly, even as she shook her head slightly. “Want to go for a walk first?” she asked.

Jane just smiled.

xxx

The next morning, the warrant came through as expected. As did a copy of Clive Morris’ medical records. He’d being diagnosed with mild OCD years before. Most of the time he was able to control it. A quick interview with his manager confirmed that Clive had known their first victim, Lucy Ferris. In fact, he’d liked her quite a bit, trying to impress her with his extensive knowledge of insurance, something she’d never seemed impressed by.

After that, they’d gone to pick him up. Clive had looked like he wanted to bolt, until he realized he was surrounded. Then he came quietly.

Unsurprisingly, Clive refused all counsel. He seemed convinced that he could outsmart a collection of mere cops.

He was in interrogation for hours. It was Jane who finally broke him. Really, he just gave the man enough rope to hang himself. And hang himself Clive did, finally breaking down and confessing to all five murders, but not before sneering at Lisbon and telling her it had taken them long enough.

Lisbon hadn’t deigned to reply, just told an officer, just took down the confession, looking very satisfied with herself.

Jane looked quite satisfied with himself as well.

“I told you we’d get him,” Lisbon,” he crowed as soon as Morris was out of the room.

“Yes you did,” Lisbon agreed with a smile of her own. “You were right.”

Jo joined them outside the interrogation room. “Well, this is what I call a good day,” 

“Agreed,” Lisbon said. “I think this calls for a celebration.”

“I know a great Mexican place,” Jo told her. “We could grab dinner. I can see if Samson’s free.”

After a quick glance at Jane, Lisbon agreed. Why not? They’d just caught a serial killer. Dinner sounded great.

xxx

Dinner was great. Samson joined them, and they made it a foursome. Everyone was in a particularly good mood thanks to the closed case, particularly Jane. Lisbon could only imagine that he was relieved not to be haunted by a second nearly-impossible-to-catch serial killer, even if he’d never admit it.

Jane had been in such a good mood, that he’d regaled them with stories of his time as a psychic, unasked. For her part, Lisbon was quite happy to sit back and enjoy it. Particularly when Jo and Jane got into a debate about the ethics of telling people what they wanted to hear, for money. Luckily it was friendly, so she didn’t feel the need to step in. 

When dinner was over, Jo suggested drinks. Unfortunately, Samson’s wife was expecting him, so he couldn’t stay. Lisbon and Jane agreed readily though. . 

“Just give me twenty minutes,” Lisbon told Jo. “I should call my Director, keep her up to date on the case.”

“You can do that in the car,” Jane promised. “I assume we need to drive to the bar,” he confirmed with Jo.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “I thought we’d go to a place close to my house. I’ll probably just walk, leave my car in my driveway.”

“I’ll drive,” Jane told Lisbon.

“You sure?” she asked. “We can always call a cab. It’ll give me more time to call the Director.”

Jane shrugged. “If you like.”

“Great!” Jo told them. “Why don’t we meet at the Apple and Arrow in half an hour?”

“See you then!” Lisbon agreed.

xxx

Ten minutes later, Lisbon and Jane were back at the bungalow, waiting for their cab. Lisbon was on the phone with the director.

“Yes ma’am, the accused is in custody,” Lisbon told her. “We’ve got a confession, and I’m pretty sure it’ll stick. Yes ma’am, all five murders,” Lisbon added.

She paused then, obviously listening to whatever the Director has to say. “I’ll be sure to pass that on, ma’am.” Lisbon said.

There was another pause.

“I think we’ll take a day or two to tie up a few loose ends here ma’am, if that’s alright,” Lisbon told her. “Maybe come home Sunday or Monday.”

Jane smiled in the resulting pause. Of course Lisbon wanted to tie up loose ends. Wouldn’t want to go with any business outstanding. He smiled as he listened to her continue.

“Well,” Lisbon said. “I’ve definitely enjoyed my time here in Oregon. We both have. But no, I don’t think I’ll be sorry to come home. I miss my condo, and I miss my team of course. Obviously. It’s been an interesting few weeks, but I think I’m ready to come home.”

“Yes ma’am,” Lisbon replied. “Thank you ma’am.” With that she hung up the phone.

“I’m guessing the Director sent her congratulations,” Jane said from his position on the couch.

“Yup,” Lisbon agreed. “She said good work, and she was glad not to hear about any kind of incident form you.”

Jane scowled. “You make it sound like I cause chaos wherever I go.”

Lisbon just looked at him.

Jane sighed. “It’s not that bad. Not always at least.”

She grinned. “No Jane, not always.”

“You sound like you miss Sacramento,” Jane said lightly.

Lisbon shrugged. “I guess I do. I miss my condo, and I miss my team. Why?” she asked. Don’t you.”

“Of course I miss the team,” Jane assured her. “Hey, was that the cab?”

Lisbon nodded. “Sounds like it, come on. We don’t want to keep Jo waiting.”

Jane helped her slide on her coat and followed her out of the bungalow. Waiting patiently as she locked it behind her, he opened the door of the cab to usher her in.

Its timing had been fortunate. Because while he did miss the team, he didn’t really miss Sacramento. Or, well, he missed it, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back.

Because Sacramento meant that he wouldn’t be living in a homey little bungalow with Lisbon any more. He’d be in a generic hotel room, all by himself. The idea made him lonely just thinking about it. No, he wasn’t glad to be going back to Sacramento. Not that there was anything he could do about it.

He turned towards the woman sitting next to him.

He refused to sulk. Obviously he needed to make the most of what was left of his time in Oregon.

xxx

Jo was waiting in the bar for them. She’d already grabbed a table. Lisbon greeted her warmly. Jane’s greeting was a bit more subdued, as he pulled out his partner’s chair.

Jo narrowed her eyes. Something was up with the charming devil. The light that’d been in his eyes at dinner had dimmed. Lisbon didn’t seem to have noticed, but Jo was sure there was a difference. Nothing serious, or Lisbon definitely _would_ have noticed, but something.

They ordered drinks and fell into conversation.

“So, Detective,” Lisbon said when their drinks arrived. “How do you plan on celebrating your big arrest?”

“You mean besides this?” Jo asked.

Lisbon smirked. “Fair point.”

“You?” Jo asked.

Lisbon shrugged. “Not my arrest.”

Jo shook her head. “Come on, you know it’s as much your arrest as mine.”

“To be honest,” Lisbon told her. “Right now I’m trying not to think about the backlog of paperwork that’ll be waiting for me when I get back to Sacramento.”

Jo winced. “Fair point. Ugh. What about you Jane?” she asked.

Her question seemed to rouse Jane from his thoughts. “I’m sorry, Detective,” he told her. “I don’t think I have an exciting answer either. Maybe I’ll go wild and spring for a fancy dinner.”

“With your poker winnings?” Jo asked. “Petey told me how the game went,” she explained when Jane raised an eyebrow.

Jane smirked. “Exactly like that,” he told her. “That’s a lovely idea Detective, going out to dinner with my poker winnings.”

“Just how much did you win?” Lisbon demanded. “You told me it wasn’t that bad.”

“It wasn’t,” Jane insisted. “But I did win enough for a nice steak dinner.” Suddenly his eyes lit up. “I don’t suppose you’d like to join me.”

Lisbon watched him warily for a minute. “I suppose I could let you feed me expensive steak,” she said eventually.

Jane’s grin widened even more. “Excellent!” Then, in a far more cheerful mood he stood. “Another round, ladies?”

When they agreed, Jane went off in search of the waiter.

The conversation stayed light for most of the evening. But Jo could tell something was brewing just beneath the surface. Lisbon seemed generally cheerful to be going home, but was struck by moments when she was almost wistful. Like when she insisted that Jo come and visit her before too long, an offer that Jo had every intention of taking her up on.

Her easy agreement caused Lisbon to perk up immediately. It didn’t elicit quite the same reaction from the man next to her. In fact, any mention of Sacramento seemed to have a negative effect on Jane’s mood.

Jo smiled into her rum and coke. It was obvious that Jane wasn’t quite so happy to go home as Lisbon insisted she would be.

Or, he might have been happy to go home, but he also had something on his mind. It wasn’t hard to figure out exactly what that was. He’d been staring at his partner all evening. Lisbon seemed to be the only who hadn’t noticed.

When Lisbon excused herself to go to the washroom, Jo took her chance. It was a gutsy move, and potentially a risky one, but she didn’t care.

“You need to talk to her,” she informed Jane bluntly.

“Hm?” Jane asked, obviously trying to play dumb. “Who?”

Jo rolled her eyes. “The Queen of England. Lisbon, you idiot.”

Jane paused. “I talk to her all the time, anything in particular we should be discussing?” he asked.

Jane held in her sigh, but barely. Men could be so thick sometimes. “How about the fact that you’ve barely stopped looking at her for longer than a minute all night.”

“Because we’ve been having a conversation!” Jane insisted.

Jo shook her head. “Right. Course you were. And that’s the only reason for your puppy dog eyes.”

“I do not give puppy dog eyes!” Jane objected. 

Jo ignored him. “Look, it’s none of my business...”

“Oh how I love sentences that start with that,” Jane muttered.

Jo plowed on. “I know it’s none of my business, but if you _don’t_ talk to her, then when you go back to California, things will probably go back to the way they’ve always been.”

Jane considered that for a moment. “That’s a fair point.”

“I know it is,” Jo agreed, sitting back and raising her glass awkwardly.

“You’re not a stupid woman,” Jane agreed, settling back himself and analyzing her. Detective Frasier was a striking woman, not exactly pretty, but striking. Very practical, and smart. Maybe not as pragmatic as Lisbon, definitely a little less imaginative when it came to solving crimes. Also, no nearly as fierce.

Still there were similarities. Underneath all of their gruffness, both women were inordinately kind.

Jane frowned as he continued to observe Detective Frasier. It wasn’t the first time he’d compared the woman to Lisbon, and while the two women were similar there was no obvious reason for the near-constant comparisons. Jane’s frown deepened until he forced himself to smooth it into a more neutral expression. Because it wasn`t just the Detective he’d been comparing to Lisbon.

It was every woman he met. He compared all of them to Lisbon. 

And they all never seemed to quite measure up.

For some reason, the idea made him smile.

It seemed Agent Lisbon had become almost an unofficial standard. And why shouldn’t she? Other than the fact that she’d hate it if he ever told her. She was a lovely woman.

Maybe he would tell her, one day when she was mad at him for some foolish thing or other. He could use it as an indication of her influence over him, an indication that he _did_ consider her sometimes. That would flummox her.

Jane was grinning to himself now.  
Not that she was perfect of course. There were other women who werewould be considered superior to her in any one given aspect (he’d met women who were objectively more attractive or objectively more daring or objectively less compulsive), but as a package, in his opinion... Well.   
Jane took a sip of his glass of sSprite. Was it any wonder she was his best friend?   
After all, he wasn’t a stupid man.   
Maybe Detective Frasier was right (he decided to ignore the fact that she was smirking at him from across the table). Maybe he did need to talk to his partner.   
The big question now, was what exactly was he going to say? He needed to think about it. He obviously had some thinking to do.   
xxx

TBC


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

xxx

Jane, Lisbon and Jo didn’t end up staying too late at the bar. It may have been a rewarding day, but it had also been a tiring week.

In spite of Jo’s insistence that she could walk home, Lisbon all but ordered her into the cab and saw her dropped off in front of her doorstep before directing the cabbie to their now-familiar bungalow.

She glanced at it wistfully as they approached, realizing that it was probably going to be one of the last nights she spent there. She’d be lying if she said that she didn’t miss her own bed, but she’d also miss the bungalow too. It certainly had its charms.

She turned to Jane as she waited for the cabbie to give her change, wondering if he was thinking anything along the same lines she was. To her surprise, she discovered that Jane seemed almost pensive, his earlier cheer gone. Upon further consideration, Lisbon realized that Jane had been quiet for most of the second half of the evening. She frowned to herself.

She’d need to talk to him about that. Probably best to wait until they were inside though.

She glanced up at him as they walked down the front path. He caught her and sent her a small smile, placing a hand on the small of her back as he unlocked the door, ushering her inside.

The gesture had become so familiar, comforting. It reassured her somehow, and Lisbon decided that whatever was bugging Jane couldn’t be that serious.

She stooped to take off her boots, handing Jane her jacket to hang up in the closet when he held out a hand. Lisbon walked into the living room and waited for Jane to follow her.

“Well,” Jane said, noticing that Lisbon had settled onto the couch. He was pleased that she wasn’t heading straight to bed. They really did need to have a conversation, not that he was entirely sure how to start it. “That was a nice evening,” he observed lamely.

Lisbon didn’t appear to find his remark lacking in originality. “It was,” she agreed. “I’ll miss Jo when we go back to Sacramento.”

Jane recognized her comment for the opening it was, but for some reason he just couldn’t take advantage of it. For the first time in a long time, he felt nervous and unsure. If he’d had any idea how she might react to any of what he wanted to say, it would be different. But he didn’t have any idea how she might react.

He walked over to the couch, sitting next to her, enjoying her proximity. He laid his head back against the couch briefly. He was a fool. He had no idea what to do, and she was going to be gone in about two days.

“Jane,” Lisbon asked softly. “What’s wrong?”

He opened his eyes to see hers fixed on him, obviously concerned. She’d noticed something was up. Of course she’d noticed. She was Lisbon. She paid attention to him.

He swallowed. “What makes you think something’s wrong?” he asked, cursing his own lack of courage. But damn it, he hadn’t had a chance to figure out how to approach the problem yet.

Lisbon narrowed her eyes. He was obviously avoiding the question, never a good sign. “You’ve been quieter than usual,” she said eventually. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Jane glanced down, noticing that she was playing with one of the couch cushions with her right hand. Without thinking, he reached over and took it in his own.

The gesture did nothing to allay Lisbon’s concerns; Jane usually only grabbed her hand when something was horribly wrong. Even so, she threaded her fingers through his readily. She would always be there when he needed her. She wouldn’t let him go it alone. She hoped he knew that.

“I’m mostly okay,” Jane said eventually.

Surprised by the admission, Lisbon turned towards him, shifting closer. “Was it the case?” she asked. “I know it had to have been tough, even if you were able to keep it separate from Red John. The similarities... I mean... I don’t know if your memories were...”

Jane shook his head. “No,” he told her. “Nothing like that. I’ll admit, I had my moments of frustration. And some days were worse than others. But that’s always the way it is, for everyone I’d imagine. That’s not the problem, and anyway, I had you.”

Lisbon frowned slightly. “I didn’t do anything.” She hadn’t, not this case anyway. He’d assured her time and again that the case wasn’t bothering him whenever she asked. She certainly hadn’t done anything specific to help him through, because he’d insisted there was nothing he needed help with.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Jane murmured. “Although, none of this relates to the case.”

“Hm?” Lisbon asked, totally confused. “Jane, I don’t... What are you talking about?”

Jane began toying with her fingers slightly, enjoying the feeling of her hand in his. And then it hit him, the crux of the matter. “I don’t want to leave,” he blurted out, giving up on finding a roundabout way of approaching the subject.

Lisbon glanced up in surprise and concern. She focussed on their joined hands for a minute. How had she not seen this coming? She should have seen this coming. It was only natural. He’d been alone for so long, of course he liked having someone around. She liked it too, if she was honest. But they would both learn to adjust once they got back to Sacramento. She would help him with that if he needed it. She wouldn’t abandon him to feel lonely. With a deep breath, Lisbon looked back up and met his eyes. “Jane, I know it was probably nice for you, having a more stable home,” she said softly. “But I’m sure you can find a house just as nice as this one in Sacramento, if you want to. If money’s an issue, it’ll give you something to save up for.”

Jane shook his head almost indulgently. He squeezed her hand again, unwilling to let it go. “No, money’s not... What I mean is...”

“There’s always the poker tables?” Lisbon asked with a wry grin, trying to joke.

His smile widened. “Well, yes,” he agreed. “But that wasn’t what I meant.”

Lisbon took a breath. "What then?”

Jane rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand. “I don’t want _you_ to leave.”

“You want me to stay in Portland?” she asked breathlessly, knowing that wasn’t what he’d meant at all.

“I don’t care about the city, Lisbon,” Jane said, shaking his head again. “I just want to live with you.”

She froze. Jane wanted to live with her. 

She tried to ignore the panic bubbling inside of her and the sudden urge to run.

What was she going to do?

She understood the desire. She’d liked living with him for a few weeks too. But it had only been a few _weeks_. But they couldn’t just move in together permanently. That was insane. This was just another one of Jane’s insane ideas. Probably one of the ones that he forgot about in under twelve hours because it had no real basis in reality. Yes, that must be it. There really was no other explanation.

Lisbon tried to ignore the suddenly intense expression in Jane’s eyes when they met hers.

“Move in with me,” he all but pleaded.

After a few painful seconds, her heart started beating again. Whatever he said, he _was_ still vulnerable after Red John. She needed to remember that. She needed to be the sensible one. This was just Jane, well... being Jane. She laughed, almost hysterically. “Jane, don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m not,” he insisted, his eyes just as intense, just as focussed.

“People don’t just move in together on a whim,” she argued, still trying to be calm.

“That’s not what this is,” Jane countered, the realization that it was the absolute truth hitting like a lightning bolt. It may have been a bit of a sudden realization, but it wasn’t a whim, not a whim at all. Lisbon was, after all, his best friend. She was the woman he compared all others to, and the person that he most enjoyed spending time with. Jane nearly groaned in frustration. Maybe he was a stupid man after all.

He’d even told her he loved her, once. It’d been years ago, but he’d said it. And he’d meant it. He still meant it. He loved her, and he... He liked when she was around better than when she wasn’t.

She just _fit._ Living together for three weeks had proven that better than anything else ever could. He didn’t want to lose her again.

Now it was Lisbon who was shaking her head insistently. “Oh no, this is a very well-thought out plan. Not impulsive at all,” she said sounding a trifle panicked.

Jane couldn’t say he blamed her for that. He knew his request was a little unorthodox. Taking note of the pure terror in her eyes, he took a deep breath, determined to be calm. It may have taken far longer than it should have for him to figure out what he wanted with his life, but now that he had, he was determined to (finally) be smart. “Just because something is sudden doesn’t mean it’s not well thought out.”

“Ha,” was the only answer Lisbon could manage.

Jane decided to approach the problem from a different direction. “I think our living together has worked out relatively well so far, don’t you? I’m a good person to live with. I tidy. I don’t leave my clothes lying around all over the floor. I can cook. I made you cookies just last week...”

Lisbon rolled her eyes. “Well in that case, if there are going to be cookies involved...”

Jane’s eyes brightened reflexively, “Really?”

“No!” Lisbon snapped. “Don’t be absurd. I can’t just move in with you. I have my condo. I’ve signed legal agreements. I like my neighbourhood. I can’t just pick up and leave everything tomorrow.”

Jane shrugged, beginning to see the funny side to this, as well as the practicalities. He realized that she wasn’t going to let him move in with her this week, but nothing in her reaction indicated that he wouldn’t be able to convince her in time. In the mean time, he was going to enjoy himself. “Well, if that’s all that’s stopping you, I can move in with you then.”

Lisbon looked positively scandalized by that idea. _“What?”_

“I like your condo,” Jane explained calmly. “There’s plenty of space. I don’t have that much stuff. That’ll give us time to sort some things out, and if we decide we want to upgrade to a bigger place after...”

“Jane...” she said in exasperation.

And with that his expression snapped to serious. “I like living with you Lisbon,” he said softly. All jokes and absurdity aside, she needed to know that. She couldn’t doubt that.

His tone made her pause. “I know. And I get that you’re lonely, and that things have been an adjustment...”

Jane growled, suddenly unbelievably (and probably unfairly) frustrated with her. He could understand that this was a surprise. But he resented the implication that he only wanted to move in with her because he was lonely and she just happened to be there. Without thinking, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, pleasure mixing with a kind of triumph when he realized she was a willing (albeit possibly unintentional) participant in the action.

When he finally pulled away, Lisbon just stared at him. “I’m still not moving in with you,” she said eventually.

Jane laughed. Couldn’t help it. She was wonderful. He smiled at her, twirling a finger through her hair, enjoying its softness as he worked to centre himself again.

“I’m not,” she repeated quietly, but firmly.

“I heard you,” Jane agreed, leaning in to bury his nose in her hair. She had such pretty hair. He’d never really let himself appreciate it up close before. And while it was obvious that she wasn’t going to succumb to pure, impractical romantic impulse and let him move in (not that he’d really expected her to in all honesty), he had no intention of giving up on the idea. Particularly when he heard her sigh softly against his neck.

He could almost feel her trying not lean into him, “Jane...”

“Let me take you to dinner,” he wheedled, slipping an arm around her and tightening it almost imperceptibly around her waist. There was a chance it would spook her, cause her to jump away in a flash, but he’d risk it. He’d risk it because he wanted to, and because it felt right, holding her. Okay, yes, the plan was also a bit crazy and impulsive, but he wasn’t going to think about that right now. She was thinking about it enough for the both of them.

“Jane...” Lisbon said again.

“You already promised to let me take you out to dinner earlier, at the bar,” Jane reminded her. “With my poker winnings. You’re not going to break my heart now by saying no, are you?”

Lisbon’s heart skittered in her chest. “Who said anything about breaking anyone’s heart?” she asked nervously.

Jane grinned, placing a brief kiss to her cheek before pulling back slightly. “Excellent. I’ll make a reservation.”

Lisbon floundered helplessly. “That’s not what I...” she started to say. “I mean...”

Jane squeezed her hand briefly, trying to reassure her. “Don’t worry Lisbon,” he told her. “I’m not going to make the reservation for the night we get back to Sacramento or anything. I’ll give you a bit of time to get used to the idea. A couple of days at least. How’s Wednesday for you?”

“Uh,” Lisbon murmured. “Fine, I guess.”

“Great,” Jane told her. “I’ll tell you more details later. We can always push it back to another day or so if something comes up.”

Lisbon watched him warily. Jane was willing to bet she was in the middle of the same mental war he was, only in her case the voices telling her she was being insane were yelling, far, far louder. Still, he could see the second she caved. 

“I’ll only agree to this if you promise to stop talking about this ridiculous idea of us moving in together,” she ordered. Jane was talking so much nonsense that she couldn’t possibly be expected to enumerate it all. Most of it fell under the lunatic moving-in-together scheme anyway.

“Absolutely, dear,” Jane agreed with a grin.

In spite of herself (and the panic in her brain), Lisbon grinned back. “Okay then.”

After all, if Jane was going to be absurd, she had no objection to letting him buy her dinner while he was doing it. This whole idea of her moving in with him was truly insane, and at some point he’d realize it. In the meantime, she could enjoy dinner with him, just as she always had, before these crazy notions had entered his head.

And as for the kiss, well... She wasn’t thinking about that. That was all there was to it.

Not thinking about it at all.

Even if (unsurprisingly) he was a really good kisser.

Jane tugged her up into a standing position, and led her towards the stairs. It was late, and they both needed to get to bed. He was by no means discouraged by her reaction. He was confident that he’d be happily ensconced in her apartment in a month. He glanced down at her, noting the stubbornness behind her smile. 

Okay, maybe two.

xxx

TBC


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

xxx

Saturday morning dawned fine. 

Lisbon was vaguely nervous when she walked downstairs at breakfast time, but Jane simply smiled at her and handed her a hot cup of coffee, just as he had every day for the last three weeks.

Lisbon had to admit that she was going to miss that.

Particularly when Jane surprised her with a plate of pancakes.

She looked up at him, question (and suspicion) in her eyes. He merely shrugged. “It’s our last weekend together. It seemed appropriate. Particularly since you might decide to fly out tonight, if we finish everything up.”

Lisbon rolled her eyes. “We’re not flying out tonight. Tomorrow at the earliest. It’s not our last morning together. Living together, I mean.”

Jane grinned. “So I’ll make you another plate of pancakes tomorrow.”

She sighed. “You don’t have to.”

“I like it,” Jane assured her. “And you like pancakes, so what’s the harm?”

Lisbon paused, unsure. It felt wrong. Like she shouldn’t be letting Jane do all of these things for her, but she couldn’t figure out exactly why.

“I’m not expecting anything in return, Teresa,” he told her softly.

She jerked her head up to find him watching her. “I didn’t say you were.”

“I know,” he agreed. “You didn’t say anything, but I wanted to make sure. On the other hand,” he added casually. “If keeping you in pancakes does result in you realizing that you can’t possibly do without my culinary skills in the morning, I’m certainly not going to be upset.”

Nerves erupted in her stomach. “You’re not moving in with me,” she said quietly.

“I know,” Jane told her. “But maybe I’m a sucker for long shots.”

“Jane...”

“Don’t you worry, Teresa,” he told her. “Look on the bright side, we made the front page.”

He showed Lisbon the front page of the paper where she and Jane were clearly visible in the corner of the picture of Clive Morris’ arrest.

“Great,” Lisbon said dryly. She’d never liked the recognition or dealing with the press. The photo was almost certain to be picked up in California. She’d probably have an interview request Monday at the latest. Or worse, Jane would. She may not have been great with the press, but Jane was positively catastrophic.

Jane chuckled and handed her the sports and entertainment sections. “Here, distract yourself with those for a while,” he advised her.

“Yeah,” Lisbon murmured, taking a bite of her pancake. Her day was going to be busier than she’d hoped.

Jane just grinned.

xxx

Lisbon’s day was busy, though not overwhelming. She had a meeting with Chief MacNamara, where he managed to be both grateful and extremely pompous. Jane, thank heaven, decided to keep his comments to a minimum for some reason. Lisbon suspected he was thinking about something entirely unrelated and had half tuned out the meeting.

The rest of the day was spent tying up loose ends with Jo and Samson, avoiding the press as much as possible, particularly the reporters who wanted statements from the consultants visiting from California. Lisbon figured it was only a matter of time before they dug up the Red John connection, something that had been kept fairly well under wraps since she and Jane arrived in Oregon. 

Maybe flying out Sunday would be better than waiting until Monday. She had been considering taking an extra day to relax, maybe see if Jo was free for dinner or something, but now she wasn’t so sure. For one, it would mean an extra day around the bungalow with Jane, who kept glancing at her forlornly, as if to reproach her for her cruelty in not letting him move in with her.

Okay, maybe she was exaggerating, but it did seem like Jane was underfoot more so than normal. 

Although, that didn’t seem possible either, given how much time she’d been spending with him over the past few weeks. Maybe she was just more aware of him now. Which was all his fault. Damn him.

He made her nervous. And not in the usual “Jane could be off doing _anything_ ” nervous. Nervous on a personal level. She didn’t like it.

It was distracting.

“Coffee?” a voice behind her asked.

Lisbon turned, extremely relieved to see Jo and not Jane. “Sure,” she agreed, with barely a backwards glance at the paperwork behind her. She needed a break.

The two women headed to a coffee shop around the corner from the police station, each deciding they deserved better coffee than the stuff in the break room.

Jo waited until they were seated before starting the conversation she’d wanted to have. “So, when are you going back to Sacramento?”

Lisbon shrugged. “I was thinking maybe tomorrow, so I can start Monday back at work.”

Jo sighed. “And here I was hoping I could convince you to meet for lunch before you left.”

Lisbon grinned. Apparently she hadn’t been the only one. “I think there’s a flight in the evening. That would leave us plenty of time for lunch.”

Jo smiled. “Alright then. I hope your stay in Portland hasn’t been too hard.”

Lisbon shook her head. “No, it’s been great, mostly. Caught a bad guy, got a break from bossing my team around...”

“Except Jane,” Jo said slyly.

Lisbon sighed. “Except Jane,” she agreed. “Although, he doesn’t listen to half of what I say anyway.”

“He listens to some things,” Jo said softly. She’d noticed that Lisbon had been looking distracted all day. Not that Jo could blame her for that. Jane had been positively staring at her for part of the morning. Now, Jo was a good detective, and her superior deductive skills had led her to conclude that the one probably had something to do with the other. She had to say, she was impressed. Even after she’d prodded him at the bar the night before, she hadn’t expected Jane to actually have the guts to confront the issue head on, which he must have done. There certainly hadn’t been time for him to take a more subtle approach.

“I guess,” Lisbon sighed. 

“Is everything alright, Teresa?” Jo asked gently, taking a chance on using her companion’s first name.

Lisbon didn’t appear to notice. “I’m fine,” she said quickly. “Just a lot of things on my mind, what with going back to Sacramento tomorrow. Apparently one of my team members won’t be joining us for another few days, and I’m sure I’ll be met by a hideous backlog of paperwork.”

“You sure,” Jo asked, knowing she was probably pushing it. “Jane’s seemed a bit quiet too.”

Lisbon froze momentarily. “I guess he probably has stuff on his mind as well,” she said casually. “We have been here for three weeks after all. It’ll be an adjustment, going home. For everyone.”

Jo realized that was all she was going to get from the other woman, so she didn’t push. “Well, if you ever need to talk...”

Lisbon softened. The bungalow wasn’t the only thing she was going to miss when she left Oregon. “Thanks, really. I appreciate the concern. But I’m fine. Maybe I’m just tired. I’ll probably take a few days off when I get back home and settled.”

With that, Lisbon turned the conversation to more neutral topics as she and Jo finished their coffee break.

xxx

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful.

Lisbon informed Jane of their departure date, trying to ignore the expression in his eyes when he realized it really would be their last night under the same roof.

To soften the blow, she offered to make dinner. Jane knew exactly what she was doing, of course. But he let her do it, for which Lisbon was grateful. It made things so much easier.

Although, when he sidled up next to her and wordlessly making a salad beside her, she nearly choked on the lump in her throat.

Dinner was not exactly cheerful, for all that both of them did their best to pretend that nothing was wrong. Eventually, they just lapsed into silence. Lisbon sincerely hoped that Jane wouldn’t suggest a walk. She absolutely wasn’t up for that. Not when she knew it would probably be their last one. She’d miss those when they got back to Sacramento.

He didn’t. Instead, he took her hand and led her over to the couch, finding the classic movie channel.

Lisbon bit her lip and sat next to him, not objecting when he put an arm around her shoulders and nudged her, until she was curled up against his side.

Damn it. She was really going to miss him.

And she couldn’t even tell him. Because his solution to the problem was absurd. Biting her lip, Lisbon forced herself to pay attention to the movie, and not Jane’s fingers toying with the ends of her hair.

xxx

Luckily their morning was busy.

Really, busy enough that Lisbon would have been able to forget all about her Jane problems, if it hadn’t been for breakfast. Jane had been good about the situation except for breakfast when he’d handed her that first cup of coffee with a vaguely reproachful look. Like she knew it was going to be the last time and it was all her fault. Like she could solve the entire problem if she just let him move in with her. Permanently.  
The plate of strawberry pancakes on the table hadn’t helped either.

But she’d pushed past it.

Lisbon wanted to leave the bungalow clean, so spent most of the morning tidying up, and pestering Jane to help her (though he was generally willing – mostly he just dug in his heels to bug her). Then she left for her lunch with Jo.

Lunch was much livelier. Lisbon found herself relaxing considerably. 

Because she wasn’t exactly looking forward to going back to the bungalow and her semi-mopey consultant (a subject that Jo wisely avoided), Lisbon agreed to a bit of window shopping. By mid afternoon, the two women parted with a hug, both promising to keep in touch.

Lisbon admitted that she would miss Detective Josephine Frasier, obviously, but they would keep in touch at least Portland and Sacramento weren’t too far away from each other. SheLisbon didn’t have that many friends, but she was loyal to the ones that she did have. And Jo was too good a one to let go. 

xxx

Jane knew he wasn’t being exactly fair.

He knew he was making Lisbon feel uncomfortable and vaguely guilty (when she had no reason to).

He didn’t really care.

He was going to miss her. A lot.

He just wanted her to miss him a little bit in return. Particularly since she wasn’t going for his whole moving-in-together plan.

He knew it sounded insane, but, the thing was, the past three weeks had probably been the best three weeks he’d had in ten years. And he wanted more of them.

Jane sighed as he put the vacuum back in the closet, careful not to throw the door off its track a second time. He knew, practically, that things wouldn’t be that simple. Deep down he’d always known that. After all, he couldn’t really expect Lisbon to just let him move into her spare room. That would be a huge change, for both of them. And it would be a bit strange if they just started living together. It wasn’t like they were in a relationship.

Wait. A relationship.

Did he want to be in a relationship with Lisbon? A real one? With the dating, and the intimacy and exclusivity, and the physical... aspect?

Jane sat down hard on the couch.

He hadn’t ever really let himself consider the possibility of a romantic relationship with anyone in years, not even after Red John’s death. It’d just been too overwhelming. But a fair amount of time had passed since then. Things were pretty good. Was he ready now?

And if he was, did he want to try, with Lisbon?

Jane flashed back to the evening before, when she’d been curled up against him. He’d liked that. He’d liked touching Lisbon. He always liked touching Lisbon. Mostly it was innocent, but what about something that wasn’t so innocent? Was that something he might want?

The second he let that door even a crack, the rush of images flooding his brain was overwhelming.

They started with her face after he’d kissed her, and moved on from there. And the places he could touch her weren’t limited to the small of her back, her hands and wrists, and the tips of her hair.

She was beautiful.

She was beautiful, and she was intense, and vulnerable, and mischievous, and strong, and passionate. She was Lisbon, his Lisbon. He cared about her, had for a long time. And he wanted her. He really wanted a relationship with her. At the very least he wanted to try.

So how to get Lisbon on board with the idea? He didn’t need to be a psychic to know that she wouldn’t be easy to convince.

Well, there was always the traditional route, dating. He wasn’t particularly fond of doing things the traditional way. Besides, it’d be a little difficult, given that he’d already asked her to let him move in with her. Still, dating (or something like it) might be the best way to win his lady love.

He liked the sound of that, actually. So much more unique than simply dating. Far more fun. And that kind of language would make Lisbon roll her eyes (which might distract her temporarily from her panic). 

Jane grinned suddenly. Yes. That was what he would do. He would date her, in everything but in name.

That might just work. He would enjoy it, _and_ it might help him convince her that they should move in together, eventually.

The best part was, she’d already agreed to go to dinner with him, so the first step was already taken care of.

Smiling to himself, Jane lay down on the couch and began to plot the rest of his approach.

xxx

Lisbon arrived back home, or rather at the bungalow to find that Jane had finished vacuuming and everything was ready. Not only had he finished vacuuming, but he’d made them a snack before their flight, since they wouldn’t have time for dinner.

He’d made her cookies and fruit salad. Her favourites.

“I thought we should have one last meal, of sorts, before we go,” Jane said softly.

Lisbon felt tears pricking in her eyes.

Seconds later she was across the room, wrapped around him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered into his shoulder.

Jane closed his eyes, holding her tightly, cataloguing the way her body felt against his. “For what?” he asked. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I’m just sorry,” she told him.

Jane shook his head. “It’s okay.”

“I am going to miss you,” she murmured. “I just, I can’t...”

“I know, Lisbon,” he assured her, meeting her eyes. “I know.”

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he nodded. He wanted her to miss him, and think about him, not feel paralysing guilty for causing him pain “Now come on. Have a cookie. And cheer up, they’re chocolate chip.”

“Okay,” she told him with half a laugh.

“Okay,” Jane agreed. “Hey Lisbon?” he asked, as he watched her search for the strawberries in the fruit salad.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Do you think we have time for one last walk before we go?” he asked hopefully, wanting one last memory.

Lisbon met his eyes, her softening again. Jane could still see the hints of tears, but there was nothing he could do about them. “Of course,” she whispered.

“Good,” he told her happily. “Good.”

It would be their last walk together in Oregon, but Jane was going to make sure that it wasn’t their last period.

After all, it wasn’t like his general need to exercise more as going to disappear once they crossed the state line. He’d simply remind Lisbon of that fact when the time came.

xxx

TBC


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

xxx

Jane was staring at her. 

Okay, fine. Maybe he wasn’t actually _staring_ at her, but he was definitely _watching._

She could feel it.

He’d been like this all day, longer really.

He’d only actually said anything about it once after their final walk (which had been mostly silent, though not uncomfortable, thankfully). It’d been while they were walking to their cab. He’d taken one last look at the bungalow, and sighed. “I’m going to miss this place.”

“Me too,” she’d agreed.

Jane had turned to her with a wistful smile and said, “You sure you won’t change your mind?”

Lisbon had been quite reasonably annoyed with him. She didn’t deserve to be pestered by a lunatic who’d gotten a fool idea in his head. “No!” she’d said a bit sharply.

Jane had simply opened the door of the cab for her and ushered her in. He’d then spent the rest of the ride being perfectly cheerful and not alluding to their living situation in the slightest. But Lisbon hadn’t been fooled. She knew he’d been thinking about it the entire time. She certainly had. _And_ she knew how his mind worked. Jane had subtly steer the conversation back around to moving in together somehow. Probably something about how much he enjoyed her company, or some other nonsense. And then he’d smile at her, with those damn hopeful looking eyes, all full of affection. And she’d feel guilty.

Guilty. And over what? A crazy whim of Jane’s. That was obviously all this craziness one was. That was _all_. One of them needed to remember that. To remember that he was vulnerable, and really, just starting to move on with his life. She would not be swayed by his nonsense.

Even if they would be in rather close quarters for the next couple hours.

And he wouldn’t stop staring at her. The jerk.

Which was why, now that they were actually _on_ the plane, Lisbon was pretending to be asleep.

Jane knew she was pretending, and she knew he knew, but that was the way it was. If she was asleep, they didn’t have to have a conversation about this. There was really nothing more to say anyway.

She scowled to herself, not care if it destroyed the illusion of sleep. What did it matter? They both knew she wasn’t sleeping.

Lisbon heard a member of the cabin crew come by with the drinks cart. “Would you like anything sir?” the woman asked Jane.

“I’ll take a bottle of water, if you have one,” Jane told the woman.

Lisbon guessed that he wasn’t willing to take a chance on the horror that was airplane tea, finicky about it as he was.

Lisbon heard the shuffling of bottles among the drinks cart. Then the woman hesitated. “Uh, do you know if…”

“Why don’t you give me a ginger ale for my friend,” Jane said with a charming smile. Lisbon could practically see his stupid face. “If she wakes up she can have it, if not, no harm done.”

“Certainly sir,” the woman said cheerfully. Lisbon heard Jane exchange further pleasantries as he paid for their drinks. She burrowed slightly deeper into the seat, trying to hide another scowl.

She _did_ want a ginger ale. Curse him for knowing that. And he’d probably be so smug about it too.

And she was kind of thirsty. Was she really planning on faking being asleep for the whole flight?

Stupid, irritating Jane, with his stupid, insane plans.

This was really all his fault.

xxx

Jane glanced over at the woman next to him. He wondered if she was going to ignore him for the entire flight. That was really all she was doing, albeit in a socially acceptable manner.

He hoped not. He didn’t like it when Lisbon ignored him, and she didn’t look very comfortable curled up against the side of the airplane. Her neck would hurt tomorrow if she kept that up. He’d have offered his shoulder, but he knew it would be immediately rebuffed.

It was a nice image, though. Lisbon curled up against him, catching a cat nap.

Not that she was catching a cat nap of course. They both knew she was wide awake.

He hoped she stopped sulking soon. He’d hoped the ginger ale would lure her out of her funk, but so far no luck.

Jane considered his situation for a moment. He was willing to admit (at least to himself) that he may have gone about things the wrong way. It was just, it had been such a spur of the moment thing. And he did want to live with Lisbon. He wanted that very much. He’d realized that now, and he was trying to do it better, but she wasn’t exactly cooperating.

He knew that it may have been a bit unrealistic to expect that she’d just let him move into her condo as soon as they got back to Sacramento.

But he’d fallen hard and fast, or more accurately, he’d realized the truth of the situation hard and fast. Jane knew very well that this had started long before either of them had come to Portland.

But Lisbon wasn’t impulsive. She also had issues of her own. Deep set issues that she probably wasn’t even aware of, at least not entirely. She had issues with trust (which Jane hoped they were getting over), issues with relationships, and probably issues with intimacy itself. And where her emotions were concerned, she wasn’t cautious. She was Fort Knox. Once you were in, you were in but until that time you had no hope. 

Well, he was in. Sort of. Just not the way he wanted. But maybe he could work to change things, slowly. Give her a little time to adjust.

He could be patient; he was good at that. If the end product was worth it.

Jane flashed back to cooking dinner together and her teasing smile. He was sure she’d be worth it.

He just hoped that she’d ‘wake up’ soon. He wanted to explain to her that she didn’t need to worry. He had a new plan.

Or at least he’d modified the old one.

xxx

Ten minutes later, Lisbon gave up all pretence of sleep. She was getting a crick in her neck anyway.

Rubbing it, as she sat up, blinking, she heard Jane beside her. “I got you a ginger ale,” he said neutrally, holding the bottle out to her.

“Thanks,” she muttered.

“So I was thinking,” Jane said, ignoring her tensing shoulders. “I may have gone about this the wrong way.”

“Oh?” Lisbon asked, trying to sound casual.

“Obviously you’re not ready to move in together,” Jane said.

“Not _ready_?” Lisbon sputtered. Because yeah, _that_ was the issue here.

“And that’s fine,” Jane continued. “I totally understand. It was a bit impulsive.”

 _“A bit?”  
_  
Jane ignored her. “So, I’ve decided to take things back a step for you.”

Lisbon blinked, wondering exactly what he meant by back a step. With Jane, you never knew.

“I do still want to live with you Lisbon, but I thought I’d give you some time to get used to the idea,” Jane told her. “In the meantime, I thought I’d woo you.”

“You… _What?_ NO!” Lisbon insisted.

Jane turned towards her with an unbelievably charming smile. “Yes.”

Laughter bubbled up in her throat before she could stop it. “Jane, that’s ridiculous.”

“It’s not,” he told her. “I want to spend time with you Lisbon. I _like_ spending time with you. And unless I’m very much mistaken, you like spending time with me.”

“I do,” Lisbon agreed. “But…” There was a but. There had to be a but. Jane couldn’t just start… whatever the hell he was talking about doing.

Jane grinned. “We can talk about it more at dinner in a couple of days. It’ll give you time to get used to the idea,” he told her. “I’m by no means discouraged by your attitude. Like I said, I understand that this is too fast for you. We can slow down. And if you do decide that you do want to move in together ASAP, you know where to find me.”

Lisbon took a sip of ginger ale. “This is not happening. None of this is happening. I’m just sitting here, on a plane, drinking ginger ale. And that’s it. That’s absolutely it. I’m just going to drink my ginger ale. And in a few minutes, maybe I’ll talk to you. And you will be talking about something normal, like the weather. Or sports, or movies. Or the serial killer case. I don’t know, something _normal_.”

“Alright dear,” Jane agreed cheerfully. “But if you decide that you want to take another nap, you should really lie on my shoulder and not the wall. It’ll be far more comfortable for your neck.”

Lisbon rested her head on the seat in front of her and tried very hard not to panic.

xxx

The panicky feeling was still there as Lisbon drove to her condo after dropping Jane off at his preferred motel room (something he’d consideratey told her she didn’t need to do if it was uncomfortable for her, thereby making her feel even worse. Jerk).

He’d told her he’d see her at work the next day with a cheerful grin. Like everything was exactly as it’d been before they’d left.

Like he hadn’t said barely two hours before that he was going to _woo her._

 __Jane wasn’t in a position to be wooing anyone, least of all her. Okay, fine. He actually was in a position to be wooing someone. He definitely was. He deserved that. She’d just never expected he’d ever actually get around to it. She never thought he’d be ready. It was surprising. And she’d absolutely never thought it would be her he was wooing. _Her._ Teresa Lisbon. His _boss._ She couldn’t...

They couldn’t do this. He was her friend. Her best friend. And she was his supervisor, nominally. He couldn’t pursue her romantically. It wasn’t technically forbidden since he was a consultant, but... But that wasn’t the point! The point was... The point was, he was _Jane._

He was Jane. And her relationship with Jane was not romantic. Jane did not pursue her. He did not take her hand in anything other than a platonic manner when one of them needed comfort. He didn’t meet her eyes in a way that was oddly intense. He didn’t use words like ‘woo’ when she was his object. He didn’t do romance seriously at all. Not after his wife’s death. Not Jane. That was supposed to be a given.

He wasn’t allowed to change that.

She didn’t know how to deal with this.

She would unpack. She would stop thinking about this, and she would unpack.

Lisbon grabbed her back, hauled it upstairs and dropped it on her bed. She would unpack right now. Her breath caught in her throat when she unzipped her suitcase to find a single origami flower balanced on the top.

And just like that, her apartment felt unbelievably, hideously lonely.

Well, she’d just have to get used to it. That was all there was to it.

She was going to kill Jane for doing this to her.

xxx

Jane was lying on the centre of the bed in his motel room.

He really hated his motel room.

He’d never exactly _liked_ it per se, it’d always been more of a necessary evil, but right now he really, _really_ hated it.

The bedroom he’d been using in Portland had been impersonal too, but at least it had homey touches. And Lisbon had been there. Lisbon had been there to cook breakfast for, and to watch TV with, and to pester.

Now he had to watch TV alone. He couldn’t quite stomach old movies, but somehow his old standby of nature documentaries seemed even worse.

Going for a walk was definite a no-go, and he wasn’t hungry. So now he was just lying on the bed staring at the ceiling.

After all, he had nothing better to do.

Suddenly Jane smiled slightly. Actually, that wasn’t true. He had something very important to do. He needed to devise a plan. He was still going to pursue Lisbon. He’d told her as much. And if he wanted to win her (and he did), then he needed to be smart about it.

He could understand that she was frightened and tentative. Relationships weren’t exactly her strong suit (his either, if he was honest), and he imagined he’d disturbed the safe emotional boundaries that she’d constructed for herself. But that didn’t mean those boundaries were insurmountable. He just needed to find chinks in the armour.

And he needed a game plan to do it. Because it was going to be a delicate process. Whatever he did next, he was almost certainly going to cause Lisbon no small amount of stress. Jane smiled to himself. Oh, Lisbon. She’d try and take down a man three times her size without blinking, but add any kind of emotional attachment into the mix and she was running scared. Jane would just need to make her see the advantages to living with him, and what she was missing out on with him gone.

He didn’t want to make her feel sad or unhappy, but he did want to make her miss him. It was a fine line.

He’d have to back down for a day or so though, because she was obviously a bit overwhelmed. Jane nodded to himself. Probably best to keep things relatively low key until Wednesday, let her get settled back into her life in California, and then slowly start inserting himself into it.

Yes, that might work.

Jane closed his eyes. It was plotting time.

xxx

The next morning, Lisbon walked into work feeling cheerful even though she’d had to make her own coffee. She was pleased to see her team back together again.

“Morning everyone,” she said as she breezed into the bullpen.

“Morning Boss,” Cho replied from his desk. 

“Morning Lisbon,” Van Pelt chorused from hers.

“Boss,” Rigsby said as he walked in behind her. “Heard you helped catch another serial killer.”

“We did,” Lisbon agreed. “But I thought you weren’t supposed to be back until later in the week.”

Rigsby shrugged. “Agent Messing improved over the weekend and wanted to get back on the job, even if it’s just desk duty, so they sent me back here.”

“Well, we’re glad to have you,” Lisbon said, patting him on the arm. 

“Yeah, it’s nice that we all came back at once,” Van Pelt agreed. “I think it would be weird otherwise.”

“It would have been three days,” Cho pointed out from his desk. 

“Yeah, thanks man,” Rigsby said. 

“Not that I’m not glad to see you,” Cho added.

“So how was Fraud?” Lisbon asked him, deciding to change the subject.

Cho shrugged. “A lot of people lying,” he told her. “We don’t believe what the criminals say anyway, but...”

“Murder’s more honest?” Lisbon asked with a smirk.

“Yes,” Cho agreed.

“And you’ve got a tan,” Lisbon observed, looking at Van Pelt.

“Two weeks on a beach,” Van Pelt said with a shrug. “And I spent the last one with my family.”

“Good,” Lisbon said with a nod. “So everybody’s ready to get back to work.”

“Or at least catch up on what they’ve missed,” Jane put in, walking up behind her.

Lisbon turned. “Well, we don’t have a case yet,” she agreed. “But I’m sure we’ll be able to keep busy.”

“I’m sure you will,” Jane agreed, handing her a cup of coffee.

Lisbon’s eyes brightened as she took it. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Jane said with a smile. “I’m just glad to have my couch back,” he said. 

“Your chaise longue wasn’t an acceptable substitution?” Lisbon asked.

Jane smirked. “On behalf of my couch I’m insulted by the question,” he told her. “That chaise longue didn’t even come close.”

“Yet you still laid on it for three weeks,” Lisbon pointed out.

Jane shrugged. “Uncomfortable as it was, it was still better than sitting at a desk.”

“Of course it was,” Lisbon agreed indulgently, pleased that Jane was acting so normal that morning. She’d been a bit worried after the whole moving in together insanity.

“So you closed the Portland serial killer case, huh?” Rigsby asked, fishing for details.

“We helped,” Lisbon told him. “Portland P.D. certainly did more than their fair share.”

“I made a couple of key observations to help catch the guy,” Jane assured them.

“And I kept Jane out of the chief’s radar,” Lisbon added.

“Probably wise,” Cho agreed.

“I wasn’t that bad!” Jane objected. “Tell them Lisbon.”

She just grinned. “I brought you pasta salad for lunch, since I’m sure you didn’t bring anything.”

“I just got home last night,” Jane objected. “And is it one you bought at a store, or one you made?”

Lisbon just smiled at him. 

“Really?” Jane asked, obviously pleased. “I’m never making my lunch again.”

“When have you ever made your lunch?” Lisbon wondered. “Anyway, I’ll be in my office if anyone needs me. Glad everyone’s back.”

“You too, Boss,” Rigsby told her. He turned to Jane, “So, come on. Tell us what happened in Oregon. How did you catch the guy?”

Jane smiled, watching Lisbon. “Just let me get my tea,” he told Rigsby. “I’ll be right back.” He caught up to Lisbon in the doorway, briefly putting his hand on her elbow. “I tucked the entertainment section of the paper in your desk drawer. Just in case you didn’t get to it this morning.”

“Shut up, Jane,” she said good naturedly. “Or I’ll take back your lunch.”

“Then how could you be sure I’m eating well?” he asked.

The team could hear them bickering down the hall.

Rigsby was the first to break the silence. “Well, that was different.”

“What do you mean?” Cho asked.

“Jane and the boss,” Rigsby tried to explain. “He brought her coffee, she brought him lunch...”

“I think it’s sweet,” Van Pelt said loyally. “They both need someone to look after them a bit, I think.”

“Still weird,” Rigsby muttered.

“They lived together for three weeks,” Cho pointed out. “What did you expect?”

That got Rigsby’s attention. “What do you mean they _lived_ together?”

Cho slowly turned towards the other man, putting down the file he’d been skimming. He was going to enjoy this. “Didn’t you hear? Portland’s chosen place to put them up was a house they sometimes use for ops. Jane and Lisbon had it to themselves for three weeks.”

Rigsby turned back towards Lisbon’s office. “Three weeks, huh? And she didn’t kill him?”

“He brought her coffee this morning,” Van Pelt said slowly.

“And she made him lunch,” Rigsby added, meeting the redhead’s eyes.

Cho smirked. “I told you, inevitable.”

Rigsby’s smile grew. “This could be fun to watch.”

Van Pelt tossed a pen at him with a laugh. “I think it’s sweet.”

“That too,” Rigsby admitted sheepishly, refusing to look at Cho.

“But mostly fun to watch,” Cho said, just before Jane ambled back into the bullpen with a cup of tea.

“So, who wants to hear how we caught Oregon’s worst serial killer?” Jane asked cheerfully.

All three agents exchanged looks. Van Pelt went so far as to roll her eyes, but Jane did have an eager audience of three for the rest of the morning.

xxx

TBC


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

xxx

The rest of Lisbon’s day went smoothly. She had a meeting with a very pleased Director Stephens, updating her boss on any details she might have missed from the case in Portland. She met with her team, both individually and in a group, hearing about Cho’s experiences as interim leader over in Fraud (reading between the lines, they would have been happy to have him stay on), looked at Van Pelt’s vacation photos, and congratulated a pleased Rigsby when she heard his arson expertise had helped save a woman’s life.

And she saw Jane.

Jane who always seemed to be near, meeting her eyes, smiling at her. Who was apparently perfectly content to divide his time equally between his couch in the bullpen with the team and the one in her office, so he could talk to her.

He even brought his lunch in to eat it with her.

Not that she minded, obviously. She liked Jane.

But he wouldn’t stop touching her.

He’d always touched her of course. Even when they’d first met. In the beginning, he’d almost certainly done it because she didn’t like it. Then it had changed and become something slightly more than just a game. Lisbon was pretty sure that part of the reason he’d kept touching her was because _he_ liked it. Jane liked touch, when it didn’t demand too much, when it was casual.

Then things changed again, with Red John’s death.

Jane touched her just a little more often then. Nothing inappropriate obviously, a hand on the small of her back, a pat on the shoulder, maybe the occasional hug.

She’d let him. She understood it. She understood Jane’s need to confirm that he could in fact touch another human being without transmitting a kind of poison.

She understood his need to reassure himself that he could have a friend who wouldn’t disappear on him the next day.

Yes, she’d let him touch her. Let him hold her hand, let him dance with her, because every time she did, she saw his eyes get just a little lighter, just a little clearer.

Now his touch had changed again.

It didn’t feel quite so casual anymore. Not since he’d told her he was going to woo her, that he wanted to _move in_ with her, that he... liked her.

For one thing, Jane was touching her _constantly._ It felt like every time she turned around there he was, opening a door for her and brushing his hand against her hip as he did so. Handing her a fresh cup of coffee, careful to flick his fingers against hers briefly. Tucking her hair behind her ear for god’s sake.

And all the while smiling at her. That damn smile of his.

Between that and the touching. It was... it was _distracting._

And it wasn’t fair.

She sighed as she packed up her things to go home. She could use a break from all of this. She needed to get it all sorted in her brain.

xxx

Lisbon’s evening was disrupted by a knock on her door. She didn’t mind. For some reason, a quiet evening at home wasn’t exactly helping her sort out the mild disaster that was her life right now. She was unsurprised to see Jane on the other side when she opened it. “Care for a walk?” he asked with a smile, pulling a bouquet of blue and purple flowers from behind is back.

Lisbon bit her lip. “Are those for me?” she asked, doing her best not to sound too pleased.

Jane handed them to her with a nod.

“They’re lovely...” Lisbon said as she examined them.

“Forget-me-nots and heliotrope,” Jane told her, guessing that she wouldn’t recognize the flowers.

Lisbon smiled. Trust him not to bring her anything traditional. 

“The flowers of eternal love and devotion,” he assured her with a grin.

Lisbon froze in her examination of her gift, looking up at him over her flowers, suspicious and mildly chastising. “Jane…”

Jane just shrugged. “It’s true, they are,” he assured her. “You can Google it yourself if you’d like.”

Lisbon laughed, couldn’t help herself. It was utterly impossible to take him too seriously when he was like this. And whatever else it might mean, the heliotrope did smell lovely. Lisbon buried her nose in it, missing Jane’s eyes brighten at her obvious pleasure in the flowers he’d brought her

After a moment, and all floral nonsense aside, she remembered why Jane was ostensibly on her doorstep in the first place. “You said something about a walk?” she asked hopefully.

“I guess they’ve become a bit of a habit,” Jane told her casually as he watched her. “And it’s such a lovely night. Besides, I figured you’d know where all the best trees are in the city.”

Any resistance Lisbon might have had to the idea crumbled away. 

Jane’s inched a little closer, knowing he’d won.

He watched her pause to enjoy her flowers a second longer. “Just let me put on my shoes,” she said softly.

“While you’re at it, you might want to put those in a vase,” Jane reminded her.

Lisbon flustered slightly. She’d forgotten about that little detail. “Right,” she muttered. “I’ll do that first.”

Jane followed her into her condo. He’d guessed that she didn’t exactly recieve flowers all that frequently. And that, Jane promised himself, was a mistake that he was going to remedy just as soon as he could.

He watched her as she struggled with trying to get the stems to sit to her satisfaction in the vase she’d grabbed from the back of a cupboard. Jane knew that his arrangement wasn’t traditional, and it probably wouldn’t sit on her table as prettily as roses would have. But Jane thought they suited her all the same.

Besides, if Lisbon did want roses, he’d just get her some next time.

When Jane realized his heart rate had increased slightly simply because she’d walked back towards him with a pleased little smile, he decided that he was getting quite foolish over her. 

“You said something about finding some trees?” Lisbon asked him.

Jane nodded and opened the door for her.

Yes, he was almost pathetic. But he decided that he didn’t care.

Actually, he kind of liked it. It was so much better than trying not to feel anything at all.

He wondered what Lisbon would think if she knew the extent of it. Jane grinned behind her back.

Well, he’d have to tell her soon enough. And that might be fun too.

Wordlessly, he took her arm, just as he had all those nights in Portland, and the two of them started out on their walk.

xxx

Luckily, the team got a case on Tuesday.

Luckily for Lisbon at least, because now she really needed a distraction from Jane. He was distracting enough as it was. Surely having another distraction could only help on that score.

And really, she needed to focus on finding who was responsible for killing a young teacher just west of the city.

Jane had decided it was one of the woman’s colleagues not five minutes after they’d found the body.

Lisbon had to admit, he was probably right. But they still had to investigate the possibility that he wasn’t, or, y’know, find actual _evidence_ proving that he was. And that was something to focus on.

Something that wasn’t Jane.

Or the fact that he’d kissed her, _again._

They’d gone on their walk. She’d taken him down one of her favourite routes near her condo. You had to walk a few blocks to get to the older neighbourhoods, but she’d always thought it was worth it. She also usually jogged the route, so it didn’t take as long as it did when you were walking. But Jane was patient. Lisbon found she didn’t mind the extra time herself. She just told him stories of things she’d seen on her early morning jogs along the way. Some of the things people did before most of the world was awake were rather surprising.

It had been a lovely night.

Jane had walked her up her porch and everything was _fine_. Lisbon had even been considering asking him if he wanted a cup of tea. But then she’d turned, and just like that, everything had shifted.

Jane had been looming.

It sounded ridiculous, even in her head, but there was no other word for it. He’d been so close, and smiling at her a little. Watching her. She remembered feeling her heart rate increase. That was when Jane had stepped closer and kissed her, just as she’d known he was about to.

And she hadn’t stopped him. She hadn’t stopped him at all.

After a second, he’d pulled away. She’d met his eyes and almost said something (though she wasn’t sure what). Before she could, he was kissing her again.

Lisbon hadn’t stopped him that time either. Not when his hand slid from her cheek to her hair, not when the other found her hip, not even when her knees started to feel funny. When Jane had finally pulled back, Lisbon was shocked to realize that her arms were around his neck without any idea how they’d gotten there.

She’d stared at him as he stepped back. It’d been a small consolation to notice that he looked almost as shocked as she felt.

Then he’d smiled at her again, and placed a kiss on her cheek, one that had lingered longer than necessary. “Good night dear,” he whispered next to her ear. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that, he’d walked down the stairs and back to his car.

She’d watched him the entire way, leaning against her own front door, only turning when she saw him pause at the street. That had spurred her into action. She’d gotten herself inside on instinct alone, pausing in the doorway to send him a smile and a wave. She wasn’t sure how she got inside her unit, exactly. But once she had, she’d found it necessary to lean against her front door for a good five minutes until her knees felt normal again.

Was it any wonder that she needed a distraction this morning?

Jane had presented her with a fresh cup of coffee again that morning. For one horrible moment, Lisbon had been worried he might try to kiss her again, right in the office. Luckily he hadn’t.

He had bought her a bear claw though. Which had charmed her. And now she was irritated with him.

Jane wasn’t supposed to be charming her. He was _supposed_ to be helping her solve murders. That was _it_. And she knew if she called him on it, he’d just point out that he was repaying her for making him lunch the day before. When she’d only made him lunch because that man, for all his insistence that she needed to eat healthier, forgot to feed himself half the time. Got busy lying on his couch or drinking tea, or whatever it was he did, and didn’t eat anything substantial.

And then he’d distract her, so she would forget to be annoyed with him until later.

Well, she had the case to distract her now, such as it was. And she would devote all of her attention to it, and not think about Jane at all. That was how it should be.

xxx 

She was angry with him.

That was okay, Jane didn’t mind. He knew that meant she was thinking about him.

If Lisbon had been indifferent to him, that would have been a bad sign. But she wasn’t indifferent. She was almost, well, nervous.

Jane would be lying if he said he didn’t find it the slightest bit flattering. The way she looked at him warily whenever he walked up behind her now, like she wasn’t sure exactly what he’d do.

It almost made him laugh more than once.

He was hardly going to kiss her at a crime scene after all (hardly a romantic locale).

And yes, Jane liked to inject a little originality into his seduction technique (heliotrope instead of roses, taking her for simple walks instead of the big displays of affection she would be more likely to suspect), but he had to draw the line somewhere. He had no intention of mixing murder with his attempts to woo his reluctant lady love.

Although, he wasn’t going to say that he hadn’t been tempted on more than one of their trips to interview a potential witness. She was awfully tempting. He’d restrained himself though. For one, he respected their work more than that; for another, he wasn’t a schoolboy, and for a third, he knew that she really wouldn’t like it. Jane was well aware that he wouldn’t have a chance in hell of convincing Teresa Lisbon that he was a good romantic partner if he interfered with her ability to do her job professionally.

So he withstood temptation, much as he wanted to give in. But he would put off short term gratification in exchange for (hopefully) achieving his long term goal. Especially since there were other short term benefits.

Jane smiled to himself. The kiss the night before had been a bit of a surprise. Kisses actually. He’d intended something a little more, well, chaste when he’d walked her to her door. He’d been planning on being a perfect gentleman after all, and not pushing her into something she was nervous about. Then she’d turned to face him with those eyes of hers, the ones that told him most of what she was thinking in a glance. Her eyes had told him just how much she’d enjoyed their evening stroll, and he’d been sunk.

He’d needed to kiss her. That was all there was to it. He’d only intended to kiss her once. He would have only kissed her once, if it hadn’t been for her reaction. She hadn’t resisted even a little. She’d kissed him back. And when he pulled away, she’d sighed softly, pleased.

So he’d had to kiss her again, obviously. The second kiss had been even less innocent than the first. But Jane would defy any man to hold to good intentions when they had a responsive Teresa Lisbon in their arms. She hadn’t just been in his arms though. He’d been in hers. The only thing that had let him step away was the fact that he knew he’d jeopardize his long term goal if he indulged in much more short term pleasure, no matter how sweet.

He wasn’t in this for a simple seduction. He was after much, much more.

One thing he’d realized since he’d first kissed her a few days earlier, was that he’d somehow almost forgotten about the seduction aspect of the whole thing. He’d asked her to move in with him, and the request had been so impulsive that he hadn’t even considered all of the logistics of moving in with Teresa Lisbon.

The possibilities were wonderful. And not something he had any intention of overlooking again.

Even if the idea was slightly terrifying. 

Jane frowned. Not terrifying enough that he would even consider not pursuing it, obviously. The benefits would far out way any potential risks. 

But Lisbon only saw the risks.

She’d responded when he’d kissed her, but he’d seen the nerves in her eyes beforehand. Just as he saw them now, as she watched him warily anytime she walked past. The idea of changing their relationship was obviously frightening to her. Not because she was indifferent to him (of that Jane was reasonably certain), but because the woman was terrified of her own emotions.

Well, Jane could understand that. He’d been frightened of the things emotion had made him do more than once. He was willing to give her time; what he wasn’t willing to do was go back to the status quo.

Jane smiled as he saw her approaching. He needed to wrap this case up quickly though. Otherwise it’d give her an excuse to push back their dinner scheduled for tomorrow night.

That he had no intention of missing.

“Lisbon, there you are!” he said cheerfully. “I have a plan.”

xxx

Jane’s plan was successful, Lisbon had to admit. The head of the Science department had folded immediately when Jane confronted him with evidence that he’d taken bribes from parents overeager to get their kids into a good school and willing to pay for the appropriate grades.

By Wednesday afternoon, they were just wrapping up the technicalities.

Lisbon was in her office doing just that when Jane waltzed in.

“Guess we both have an evening free then,” he observed.

“Guess so,” Lisbon agreed. “Although I still have stuff to catch up on from the three weeks we were in Portland.”

“Nuh huh,” Jane told her with a shake of her head. “I’m sorry Teresa, but you can’t do that tonight. We have a dinner date remember? I’m to buy you top quality steak with the money I took from the Portland P.D.”

Lisbon paused. “Oh, are we still doing that?” she asked, trying to sound casual (and failing miserably).

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Jane asked with a frown.

“Well,” she murmured. “You hadn’t actually mentioned anything in a couple of days.”

Jane shrugged, relaxing again. She wasn’t about to tell him she had other plans at least. “We had a case,” he explained. “But that’s over now. So we can make our dinner reservations. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

Lisbon paused, torn. Part of her wanted to go, part of her wanted to hide in her office for the rest of the evening and pretend that this wasn’t happening. And while she was at it, she could also pretend that Jane hadn’t kissed her two nights ago on her own front porch. Twice.

Then she caught his eyes and saw the anticipation in them. And she knew that she couldn’t turn him down, and not only because she’d already promised to go. “Okay,” she told him. “Seven it is.”

Jane smiled slowly. “Excellent. Dress code formal, by the way.”

Lisbon’s eyes widened in panic. “ _What? Jane!”_

He chuckled at the expression on her face. “I’m not saying you need to wear an evening gown, Teresa,” he told her. “But I thought we’d go somewhere where the dress code’s a little more formal than a pantsuit. Don’t look at me like that. I told you I was taking you for good steak. That means something a little better than any run of the mill steakhouse. I know you have at least one appropriate outfit in your closet. That dress you wore to the last CBI management dinner would be fine.”

Lisbon scowled at him. The fact that she did have an appropriate outfit wasn’t the point. You didn’t tell a woman, she checked her watch, just over four hours before an event that she needed to dress up for it. “Fine, whatever,” she told him. “Guess I’d better finish up here.”

“Guess you’d better,” Jane agreed, trying not to smile. She was flustered. He liked it.

She continued to scowl. “Well, then you should probably leave and let me do that.”

Jane nodded. “See you in a bit then, Teresa.” He paused when he got to the door of her office. “I’m looking forward to it.”

With that, he was gone.

Back in her office, Lisbon told herself very firmly that she wasn’t going to let him get to her. And she absolutely wasn’t blushing.

xxx

TBC


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

xxx

At exactly 6:59, Jane was walking up the stairs to Lisbon’s condo, holding three yellow roses. He knew very well that if he’d bought her more, they’d make her nervous.

He was nervous enough already, as he waited for her to open the door. Then she did, and nerves were the least of his worries. “Oh wow,” he muttered.

“You said formal,” Lisbon muttered self-consciously. “And I wasn’t sure if...”

“No,” Jane said violently shaking his head. “It’s good. This is good.” 

Actually, it was better than good. It was amazing. He was having trouble keeping his eyes off of her.

She wasn’t wearing the dress she’d worn to the management dinner. That had been a knee length black affair. Perfectly lovely and very flattering, but it wasn’t this. This dress was red. Deep red. Also knee length and sleeveless, with a neckline just slightly lower than what he was used to seeing on her.

It was definitely distracting. He forced herself to look at her face, noticing with pleasure that she’d left her hair curly for the occasion. Good. He liked it better that way. That was when he saw the nerves in her eyes. In an effort to quell them (along with the ones dancing around in his own stomach), he’d smiled at her, and handed her the flowers.

They made her smile. “They’re lovely,” she told him. “But you didn’t have to. You don’t have to keep buying me flowers.”

Jane decided to ignore that. “Yellow roses,” he told her. “The flowers of affection and friendship. Somehow, I didn’t think you’d object.”

“Of course I don’t,” she said softly, resisting the urge to fidget with her hair. She took them from him gently. “Thank you, but at this rate I’m going to run out of vases.”

“I’ll buy you more,” he said absently as he watched her walk away. He wanted more than friendship and affection from her, but he wouldn’t ignore what they had now. And he knew she wouldn’t either. “You look unbelievably beautiful by the way, Teresa.” He could tell her now. Now that she’d put five feet between them. With the distance he could say something like that without running the risk that they wouldn’t make it to the restaurant at all. “Positively stunning,” he murmured, enjoying the way her eyes lit up in pleasure just before the blush caught up to them and made her duck her head.

“Thanks,” she replied softly.

“That’s not the dress from the management dinner,” Jane observed, deciding to tease her a little.

He was delighted when she shrugged. “No,” she admitted. “But I guess I wanted... I don’t have a lot of opportunities to wear this one, and the black one is very...” safe, she thought to herself, but didn’t say. “I wanted something a little more fun, I guess.” And she admitted in her secret heart, that part of her wanted to see if she could knock him off balance a little, just for a second. He’d been driving her crazy for the past few days and... 

The way he was looking at her now, made her think that maybe she’d succeeded, possibly a little too well.

“Maybe it’s a little much,” she admitted.

“No, oh no,” Jane insisted with an emphatic shake of his head. ”That dress is a knockout, Teresa. You look lovely.” He smiled at her murmured thanks while she busied herself with her flowers. She’d dressed up for him. He hadn’t expected to find her in sweat pants when she opened the door, but he hadn’t expected _this_ either. He hadn’t expected the dress, or the heels (she was wearing _heels_ , and her legs looked fabulous), or the hair, or the makeup, or the perfume he’d caught a hint of when she’d first opened the door. He hadn’t expected the package. Now he felt a little off balance, in just about the best way possible.

Jane picked up the coat he saw draped over a chair as she walked over.

“You’re wearing this, I presume?” he asked.

“Mmhm,” she agreed, as she checked her purse to make sure she had everything (though he wasn’t entirely sure what she thought she’d need, but that was one of the many things he’d stopped asking women long ago). 

Instead he held the coat out for her and helped her put it on. “Allow me.”

Lisbon slipped her arms into the coat, letting herself enjoy Jane helping her put it on. It’d been a while since she’d been out like this, with someone determined treat her like she was special. She was going to do her best to enjoy it, though she wasn’t sure how successful she was going to be at that.

She caught Jane’s eye over her shoulder. “What?” she asked.

He grinned. “If I forget to tell you later, I had a lovely time tonight, Lisbon.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Please, you can do better than that.”

He raised his eyebrows. “That happens to be the truth, I’ll have you know. That wasn’t a line.”

“Not a line?” she asked. “Really?”

“Really,” he assured her.

“You had a lovely time?” she checked.

“Why so sceptical?” Jane wondered, running a hand up and down her arm.

“For a start, you’ve barely been here ten minutes,” Lisbon pointed out.

Jane’s smile was slow, and Lisbon was suddenly sure whatever was coming wasn’t going to be good news for her. 

“Trust me, Teresa,” he told her, leaning in to whisper in her ear conspiratorially. “Whatever happens for the rest of the evening, you opening the door wearing that dress easily puts tonight into my top ten nights of the last decade.”

She just stared at him.

He chuckled. “Now come on, let’s go see if we can improve it.”

Finding a laugh herself, Lisbon took his arm and let him lead her out of her apartment.

xxx

As Jane had promised, the meal was wonderful. The restaurant was lovely, nice without being ostentatious. The steak was amazing, as was the rest of the meal. And Jane had apparently decided to be his most charming. Lisbon had to admit, she was enjoying herself.

Jane had always been able to make her laugh, and he was really working at that tonight. He was keeping the evening light, which relieved her. Hadn’t mentioned his crazy idea that they should move in together even once.

At least, not until the dessert course.

Lisbon was enjoying a sinfully chocolatey concoction of some kind which Jane was stealing bites of when he thought she wasn’t looking. She let him. She was in too good a mood not to, and anyway, she knew if she ate the entire thing she’d just be overly full afterwards.

And then he opened his big mouth. “You know what this reminds me of?” he asked casually.

“Hm?” Lisbon hummed, her mouth full of chocolate.

“That time we made sundaes in Portland,” Jane told her. “Although this, I have to reluctantly admit, is of much higher quality.”

Lisbon swallowed slowly. “Well, that’s probably because neither of us went to a fancy cooking school.”

“Who says I didn’t?” Jane asked.

Lisbon raised her eyebrows.

Jane shrugged. “Okay, I didn’t,” he admitted. “But I could have.”

“You could have faked that you did, maybe,” Lisbon corrected. “And while you can cook, you’re no gourmet, Jane. You forget, I’ve had your cooking more than once.”

“That you have,” Jane agreed, eyes twinkling. “I don’t suppose you’d like to have it again?”

Lisbon sighed. She’d walked right into that. “Jane, we’re not moving in together.”

“Who said anything about moving in together, Lisbon?” Jane asked. “I was just talking about making you a meal.”

She glared at him.

“Although, now that you mention it...” he said with a grin.

She set down her fork. “Jane...”

“I don’t know why you find the idea so absurd,” he grumbled.

Lisbon gaped at him. “Jane! I’m your boss. I’m your friend. I’m your partner. I am _not_ the woman that you move in with.”

“No, you’re the person I _ask_ to move in with me,” he corrected.

She shut her eyes. _“Jane...”_  
  
Jane sighed. She would be difficult about this. Still, he jumped on the opening she’d just given him. “Okay, I admit that our relationship hasn’t exactly progressed in a logical fashion.” 

Lisbon raised an eyebrow. Jane wondered if she’d practiced that particular expression in the mirror before deciding it probably just came naturally to her. “Our relationship?” she asked skeptically. He was pleased to hear a slight hitch in her voice near the end. It seemed Agent Lisbon couldn’t quite pull off the calm she was attempting.

Jane nodded. “Of course, our relationship. What else would you call it? Non-linear though it is. Particularly since I asked you out to dinner after living with you for less than a month. But really Lisbon, does the fact that we did share a house professionally then mean that we can never have dinner together? Particularly since you’ve already vetoed my suggestion that I just move in with you.” 

Lisbon stared at him. It was sometimes hard to tell if Jane was being serious or not. She was terrified this was one of the times he was. “ _Jane…_ ” she said again, unsure what else there was to say. 

She watched him shrug, still infuriatingly calm and still smiling at her. “I think that you should at least give me a chance to woo you, since you were so adamant that step couldn’t just be skipped.” 

Lisbon shook her head. It wasn’t about steps. It wasn’t about... They couldn’t just... “Jane, this is insane. And I don’t remember actually agreeing to letting you woo me.”

“It was implied,” Jane informed her casually.

“When?” she demanded.

“When you pointed out that we couldn’t just move in together because it was too sudden,” Jane told her easily. “So I decided to back up a couple of steps for you.”

Lisbon blinked at him. “And I repeat, Jane, this is insane.” 

Jane considered her for a moment before leaning forward with a smile. “Why?” 

That threw her for a moment; then she recovered. “Exactly what do you think is going to happen? We’ll have dinner, I’ll fall in love with you, and then I’ll ask you to move in?” Lisbon demanded, irritated when she heard the edges of panic in her own voice. 

Jane shook his head, reaching across the table and toying with her fingers. “I find that unlikely, unless luck is _really_ on my side.” 

“But you are doing this because you want to live with me,” Lisbon double-checked. “Because you’re lonely.” 

“Well, yes,” Jane agreed easily. Then he paused to consider it. “Actually, no. Not exactly. Not only because I’m lonely, although I am sometimes, now that you mention it, Lisbon. Particularly when I’m not at work, or you’re not around.”

Her heart skittered in her chest. That had actually sounded sincere. Like he really _meant_ that. She was becoming horribly afraid that this wasn’t entirely a game. And she had no idea what to say about any of it. “Jane, I... Look...”

“Thing is, Teresa,” he said, deliberately using her first name as he leaned forward, invading her personal space subtly. “It’s not like any woman would do. I’m rather set on it being you. I liked living with you. I want a relationship with you.” 

She swallowed, “So I’m just supposed to pretend like this dinner isn’t part of a grand scheme of yours, designed to… to…” 

He shook his head gently, reaching over and running a finger along her wrist, pleased when her pulse faltered ever so slightly. “No. I’m okay with you knowing my game plan. Yes, I may have an ulterior motive. But I almost always do. We both know that. You must be used to it by now.”

“Oh, _I am_ ,” she assured him, pleased to have something solid to latch onto.

“I thought so,” Jane said. “And Lisbon, if you enjoy yourself tonight, does that mean that everything else will work out just as I plan? I’m coming into this with intentions, but I also simply enjoy your company. All I’d like to do now is explore the possibility that our relationship could change a little. So why can’t we just enjoy dinner, and worry about the rest of it later?” 

“I…” Damn it. He sounded reasonable. She hated it when he sounded reasonable. Because no matter how the things he said _sounded_ , they very rarely _were_ reasonable. “I don’t know,” she admitted.

“We’ve been friends a long time,” Jane reminded her persuasively. “Do you really not see our relationship as being something relatively permanent, in whatever guise it ends up taking?” 

“Of course I do!” Lisbon said indignantly.

Jane allowed himself a small smile over that. “Then why can’t we explore what that might be a little?” 

She paused again, determined to find the flaw in his logic. There _had_ to be one. “I don’t…” 

“Having dinner with me doesn’t lock you into anything, Teresa,” Jane reminded her. Then his eyes turned mischievous. “Not even if you enjoy it.” 

“I know that!” she snapped at him, unreasonably annoyed with him. 

Jane leaned back, recognizing that he needed to stop pushing her for a minute. “Are you enjoying dinner so far?” 

Lisbon sighed, unbelievably tempted to lie to him. Then she remembered his flowers, and how he’d looked at her when she’d opened her front door in the dress. And she remembered that he’d spent over two hours making her laugh. So she met his eyes squarely. He was right after all, just because she’d enjoyed dinner didn’t mean that she had to move in with him. “Yes.” 

“So am I,” Jane told her, smiling affectionately. 

Lisbon smiled back. “I think I am at least,” she clarified. She had been enjoying herself, but now her brain felt all tangled up.

Jane’s smile widened. “Okay.” 

That threw her. She’d been worried he might be hurt by the admission. “Okay?”

He reached forward and squeezed her hand. “I know that you’re scared, Teresa. That’s okay. Trust me, just a little.” 

She nodded once. “Fine.” 

Then he tightened his grip on her hand, rubbing his thumb along hers. “You still look beautiful by the way.” 

She sighed, trying to ignore the butterflies _that_ caused. “Stop that _…_ ” 

“What?” Jane asked, his tone deliberately innocent. After all, he was trying to be understanding here, but he _did_ have an agenda. “I _am_ going to try to charm you; I told you that. If you decide that you don’t want to be charmed, that’s up to you.” 

Lisbon groaned, “You’re impossible.” Still, she couldn’t be entirely annoyed with him. It was awfully flattering after all. She wasn’t entirely used to compliments, especially not about her appearance, and Jane had a way of delivering them that was... disarming.

He cocked his head to the side, considering her. “You _are_ enjoying yourself,” he said with a pleased smile.

His superior tone made her scowl. “Oh shut up.” 

Smiling to himself, Jane glanced around the restaurant. Their evening was winding down, and he wasn’t quite ready to lose her company just yet. Inspiration struck when he saw a few other couples taking advantage of the music in a corner of the restaurant obviously designed for this purpose. “Would you like to dance?” he asked hopefully.

Lisbon glanced over at the small dance floor before turning back to meet his eyes, any token resistance she may have had overthrown by the hope in his. “Yes,” she admitted softly.

To his credit, Jane didn’t gloat. Just stood up, and offered her a hand, leading her to the dance floor.

She let herself fall into his arms, just as she had all the other times they’d danced. He was a good dancer, and one of the few people she’d ever felt really comfortable dancing with. So for a little while, Lisbon decided she was just going to ignore the rest of it, and let herself enjoy this. She let her head fall to his shoulder, and swayed along with him.

Jane held her lightly, pleased when he felt her relax against him. This was what he wanted, to hold her. And it was getting harder and harder to let her go.

xxx

They left the restaurant not long afterwards.

Lisbon wasn’t surprised when Jane offered to walk her to her door. All in all, she’d had such a good evening that she let him accompany her to the door of her condo without a fuss.

As she put her key in the lock, she heard him sigh.

Turning towards him in surprise, she saw him watching her with an odd look on his face.

“I miss you, Teresa,” he admitted, brushing a hand over her hair. 

She swallowed, still determined to be sensible. “You saw me all day.” 

Jane shrugged. He didn’t see what that had to do with anything. “It’s not the same, and you know it. And I can accept that things can’t be exactly like they were in Portland, but I still miss things. I miss cooking dinner with you, and watching you yell at the television whenever one of your sports teams doesn’t meet with your approval. I even miss you yelling at me to exercise more.” 

“I can still do that,” Lisbon pointed out.

Jane grinned. “I miss our walks.” 

“Jane… We went for a walk two nights ago,” she reminded him. 

He took a step closer to her; he was almost touching her now, “Tell me you didn’t think about it last night.” 

She hesitated, thrown by the proximity (somehow unwilling to lie to him). “I… I…” 

Jane slid a hand to her cheek. Lisbon knew what was coming next, knew what he was about to do, but she didn’t stop him. Instead she leaned against her door, though she’d deny to her dying day that it might have been for support.

He was even closer to her now, though she wasn’t entirely sure how that was possible. Because he was still barely touching her. “Try not to worry too much about everything being backwards, Teresa,” he murmured next to her lips. “I never do things the right way around anyway.” 

Then he kissed her. 

Jane braced his left hand against the door as he shifted closer. He’d wanted to do this for literally hours. Actually, since she’d opened the door wearing that dress. Which she’d have to wear for him again. She just would. He’d arrange it somehow.

Speaking of the dress, Jane moved his hand from the door to her waist, then the small of her back, enjoying the softness of the fabric under his fingertips as he pulled her against him. He felt her hand move from his hair where it had been to his shoulder, as the other slid under his suit jacket and around his waist.

He pulled away to breathe before kissing her again.

Lisbon wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing. Beyond letting Jane kiss her senseless, obviously. Because this was crazy. It was, but... But... He was so attractive, and such a good kisser. Thorough, that’s what it was. He was thorough. When he moved to pull away, she tightened her grip until he came back, kissing her again.

“I should go,” he murmured in her ear, finally pulling away after the third kiss, though he didn’t want to. But he had to, at least for tonight. He’d use the excuse that she wasn’t ready for more, and she probably wasn’t, but the real truth of it was that he wasn’t either. He’d been with other women since his wife, most of them he wasn’t particularly proud of (not that there’d been many). But she was the first one who would mean something. So he wasn’t ready to rush things, for both of their sakes. 

He wasn’t ready to do more than kiss her yet. Which was one of the reasons part of him admitted that she’d probably been sensible in not letting him move right in. Not that he’d tell her that. 

So Jane stepped back, taking a moment to enjoy the surprise in her eyes, the fact that she was still trying to catch her breath, and her slightly dishevelled curls. “Thank you for a wonderful night, Teresa. I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight.” 

“Night,” she murmured in shock, watching him for a few seconds before turning and letting herself into her condo. She hadn’t expected him to… She leaned against the back of her door. After all his talk about what he wanted, she’d expected him to push a little harder to get it. Not to force, of course, but… She hadn’t expected him to give her space and be all sensible and understanding and… 

Lisbon wrapped her arms around herself. Damn it all. She did miss him. He’d probably planned this whole thing. She really hated that man. Lisbon’s phone buzzed with a text message. 

_Miss me yet?_  
  
She laughed in spite of herself. _I just saw you,_ she typed.

She could feel him smiling through his next text. _I thought so._  
  
She was about to compose a sarcastic reply when her phone buzzed again.

 _I miss you,_ the message said.

Lisbon sighed. It just wasn’t fair. _Thank you for tonight,_ she texted instead.

Jane’s reply was almost immediate. _You’re welcome._

Lisbon shut her phone, sighing to herself. It had been a lovely evening. But she was being crazy, and possibly unfair.

Yes, she was under no obligation to let him move in with her because she’d let him kiss her. Hell, she hadn’t just let him kiss her; she’d been an enthusiastic participant. And yes, she hadn’t promised him anything. But she still felt like this was a bad idea. A really bad idea. Because Jane’s goal wasn’t realistic. It was... 

Two people didn’t just move in with each other. She and Jane were best friends. She wouldn’t jeopardize that. Although, she probably already had.

There was no way this would last. She was no good at this. He should have picked someone else. Someone who wasn’t so screwed up when it came to relationships.

She needed to stop this. She needed to stand firm. No more shenanigans.

Then she remembered his eyes just before he’d kissed her. The feel of his hands on her face. How he’d called her beautiful.

She dropped to her couch wearily.

This was going to be a disaster.

And she was utterly screwed. 

xxx

TBC


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

xxx

Over the next few days, Jane and Lisbon established a new kind of rhythm, or rather, they adjusted their old one slightly.

This new rhythm included more shared coffee, regular walks in the evening, and a few extra stolen minutes every day.

Admittedly, Jane was the instigator of most of it. He found that he was quite enjoying actively pursuing Lisbon. He loved the way her eyes were at times wary and pleased with him whenever he tricked a moment of her time out of her. He loved the way she _always_ eventually gave in, even if it was usually a bit reluctantly. He loved that she never seemed quite sure what to do with him. And most of all, he loved that she didn’t exactly look unhappy about it. Confused, yes. Uncertain, yes. More than a little frightened, unfortunately. But never unhappy.

Jane figured that was a good sign, and they could work on the rest.

He was having the time of his life, coaxing her smiles and stealing her kisses.

He was almost angry with himself that this idea hadn’t occurred to him months ago.

He was determined to make up for lost time.

xxx

Lisbon was sitting at her desk during a rare quiet afternoon finishing up her paperwork when her phone rang.

“Lisbon,” she answered quickly.

“Hello Agent,” Jo said cheerfully. “How’re things going in your neck of the woods?”

“Jo!” Lisbon greeted in surprise, her face splitting into a wide smile. “I’m doing pretty well. How’re things going in Oregon?”

“Oh, we’re managing to struggle though somehow, without you,” Jo said dryly as Lisbon snorted. “Although, that’s actually what I called to talk to you about. The mayor of Portland’s making noises about giving us some kind of an award for catching Morris. Chief MacNamara’s all for it of course. Anyway, I was instructed to call you and inform both you and Mr. Jane of the possibility that your presence might be requested in Portland at a later date. There’s talk of a formal ceremony.”

“Oh god,” Lisbon muttered.

Jo laughed. “How did I know that would be your exact reaction?”

“Oh like yours was any different,” Lisbon shot back.

“Well, I was in the chief’s office with the mayor’s publicity person when I heard, so actually yes, my reaction was quite a bit different,” Jo countered.

“Not your mental reaction,” Lisbon replied.

“True,” Jo agreed. “But don’t panic yet, Agent Lisbon. It’s still in the very early stages. Look on the bright side, budgets being what they are, there’s a very good chance it’ll all come to nothing.”

“So there is an advantage to our current fiscal climate,” Lisbon murmured.

“A silver lining at least,” Jo agreed. “Anyway, I just thought I’d let you know. You can tell Jane as you see fit.”

“Mmhm,” Lisbon hummed absently, momentarily distracted by the current complication that was her consultant.

“How is Jane by the way?” Jo asked, sensing something was up. “I didn’t ask earlier. Although, we barely covered how you were, so…”

“Jane?” Lisbon repeated, trying not to sound startled. “He’s good, I guess. I mean… He’s, well…”

Jo held in a laugh. She had her answer. Teresa Lisbon didn’t fluster easily after all. “Is something wrong?”

Lisbon shook her head. “Not exactly wrong, no… It’s just…”

Jo bit her lip, realizing that whatever it was, Lisbon was taking it seriously. Jo had conducted enough interviews to recognize the signs of a person who desperately wanted to confide in you, but wasn’t entirely sure how to start. “You can talk to me Teresa,” she said gently. “I know we haven’t known each other that long, but I’d like to think we’re friends.”

“We are,” Lisbon said helplessly. “It’s just, well, I think Jane’s going crazy,” she blurted out.

 _“What?”_ Jo asked, genuinely concerned now. “He seemed fine in Portland. Well, okay, he was a bit odd, but I thought that was just _Jane_. Is it… well... What makes you think that he’s going crazy?”

“He’s completely lost his grip on reality!” Lisbon said in a rush. “He keeps telling me that he thinks we should move in together! Which is obviously crazy. But ever since Portland, when we shared that damn bungalow, he thinks… Anyway, now, every time I turn around, there he is, being all _Jane_ , talking about how he could keep making my coffee in the morning and offering to make dinner or watch baseball. And somehow he thinks this insane plan is something that people just _do_. And…”

Lisbon trailed off, both because she’d run out of breath and because she’d realized that on the other end of the line Jo was desperately trying to contain her laughter and failing miserably.

“It’s not funny!” she hissed.

“I’m sorry!” Jo said with a laugh. “I just, oh you should have heard yourself. When you started I thought Jane was actually having some kind of actual, I don’t know, mental episode.”

“You don’t think informing your supervisor that you want to move in with them qualifies as a _mental episode?_ ” Lisbon demanded.

Jo got her chuckles under control. “You’re not his supervisor,” she said gently.

“Actually, that’s exactly what I am,” Lisbon retorted, miffed and standing on her dignity. “I know the situation’s a bit complicated, but technically that _is_ my position.”

“I meant that you’re not just his supervisor,” Jo corrected, realizing that a little bit of delicacy was probably required in this situation. “Yes, technically you are Jane’s supervisor. But you know that’s not all you are too him. I’d be willing to bet that’s never been your only role in Jane’s life. Not even when he first started working with you. You’re friends. You look out for each other. You like each other even. And don’t try and tell me that I know what it’s like, being a cop and working with people for a while,” Jo added when Lisbon sounded like she was about to interrupt. “It isn’t just that. I know that I haven’t seen you with the rest of your team, but can you honestly tell me that you’re the same with them as you are with Jane? Honestly?”

Lisbon paused. “Jane’s always been… different, I guess. He needs more, or… He’s not a cop, for one. And then there was Red John. Sometimes I swear Jane was just a half a step away from falling off the edge. I thought he maybe did fall more than once. You’ve only seen him now. You don’t know what it was like, what I had to do. Ten years, over ten years.”

“Yeah,” Jo admitted. She’d had a serial killer case for a few months and that had been bad enough. Lisbon had one for a decade. “And I can’t even imagine what that was like, what you two have been through, or how you did it, any of it. I’m not even going to try. My point was more, well, there’s a bond between you now because of it. Maybe there’s a bond between your whole team. I don’t know; I haven’t met them. But there’s definitely something special between you and Jane. It’s not a bad thing.”

“I didn’t say it was,” Lisbon grumbled. “And I like Jane, I do…”

“But?” Jo prompted.

“But I don’t want to move in with him,” Lisbon insisted. “That’s completely insane. Like his plans _always_ are.”

“That doesn’t seem to hinder your working relationship much,” Jo observed.

“I told you. He solves a lot of cases,” Lisbon growled. “This is different. This is personal. And really crazy. He’s really crazy.”

“I don’t see why,” Jo murmured, wondering if she was deliberately trying to wind Lisbon up. “Jane probably enjoyed living with you in Portland. He definitely seemed happy with the arrangement whenever I saw him. I’d hardly call it crazy for him to want more of something that makes him happy.”

“Of course it’s not crazy to want to be happy,” Lisbon muttered. “And I get that he’s been a bit… unsettled for a long time, and that the stability is nice. But that doesn’t mean that we can just start living together permanently because of one of Jane’s whims!”

Jo highly doubted it was a whim, although she could see why Lisbon might feel that way. To be honest, she had to give Jane an A for intentions, but an F for execution on this one. The idea did sound insane. But the thing was, Teresa Lisbon was panicked. If Jane’s idea really had been completely insane, Lisbon would have dismissed it completely and barely given it another thought. There would have been nothing to panic over if part of her hadn’t been tempted. “Of course you can’t just move in with him,” Jo placated. “I agree completely.” It would be a bit crazy to agree to Jane’s scheme, but she couldn’t agree that he was crazy for suggesting it.

“Someone needs to be sensible!” Lisbon insisted. “And that someone always has to be me. I’m always the one who has to be careful, make sure nothing horrible is about to happen because of one of Jane’s stupid plans. It would be one thing if he’d only asked me to move in with him once, and then when I said no, said, oh okay, and that was the end of it. But it wasn’t.”

“He’s pursuing you?” Jo asked neutrally, already knowing the answer.

Lisbon took a breath. “Yeah, I guess that’s as good a word for it as any.”

Jo chuckled. “Well, then I guess now’s probably an equally good time to tell you that, based solely on seeing the two of you around the department, at least a quarter of Portland PD thought you were married.”

“ _What?”_ Lisbon screeched. “So did the damn neighbours.”

“Can you blame them?” Jo asked. “The two of you are almost always together. Half the time you don’t seem to even seem to need words to have a conversation. You both tease each other constantly, when you’re not bickering. Jane’s always making you coffee or you’re making him tea. You’re always looking out for him. He comes to pick you up when you call. If I hadn’t gotten to know you, I probably would at least be considering the possibility that you were sleeping together.”

“I…” Lisbon sputtered. “This is a nightmare.”

“Oh it is not,” Jo laughed.

“How is this _not_ a nightmare?” Lisbon demanded.

Jo smiled. “Is he putting any pressure on you? Trying to force you into something you don’t want to do?”

Lisbon considered that. “No, not exactly. Nothing like that. He just, he’s like a dog with a bone. Some days he doesn’t even mention it, but he never gives up either.”

Jo nodded. She’d figured as much. “So what we’re dealing with then is a friend of yours, that you, by your own admission, are quite fond of, who has realized that he quite likes your company and wants spend more time with you.”

“But…”

“I’m not saying you should let him move right in,” Jo clarified quickly. “That’s a bit insane, I’ll grant you. But try to think of it in those terms. And try not to worry. Remember, you like Jane.”

“It’s easy for you to say,” Lisbon grumbled. “You don’t have to deal with any of this.”

“A handsome, charming man pursuing me? No, you’re right. I don’t have to deal with anything like that. Lucky me.” Jo replied.

Lisbon groaned.

Jo took pity. “I know what you meant,” she said softly. “And if you’re this stressed about it, maybe you should consider talking to someone else about it. Not that I’m not happy to listen, but someone who lives closer, ideally in the same city, would have their advantages.”

“I don’t _have_ anyone else I can talk to about this,” Lisbon grumbled. Her brothers were a no go, as was the team for obvious reasons. She had a few close friends, but most of them lived far away and/or didn’t know Jane. The explanations would just take so long, and even then probably wouldn’t be enough. And her friends in Sacramento even if they had met Jane, weren’t exactly the type for this kind of secret.

Jo’s heart melted. “Well, you can call me anytime.”

“Yeah, you’ve been real sympathetic,” Lisbon muttered. “But thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Jo told her. “And if you do end up back in Portland, I can always kick the crap out of him for you.”

“I can do that myself,” Lisbon admitted with a grin.

Jo laughed. “We can tag team him then. I’ll talk to you later, Teresa.”

“Yeah, I should get back to work anyway,” Lisbon agreed. “Talk to you later Jo. And thanks.”

“Not a problem,” Jo said with a shrug. “Like I said, anytime.”

“I may just take you up on that,” Lisbon murmured. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

Lisbon hung up the phone with some regret. It had helped a little to talk about it. She couldn’t talk to anyone else about it really, except Jane himself, and that would hardly help. He made her head spin with his craziness and she just, she wanted… It’d been so easy before. Before he’d decided they should move in together. Their friendship had been so nice, and now it was all in upheaval. Or not upheaval, but something like it.

She just wanted things to be simple. Just simple. Just for a little while. She didn’t want to have to worry about what he was thinking, what he was planning. And she didn’t want to worry about what message she was sending, or if she was encouraging him more than she should, or feel guilty about enjoying the extra attention he was bestowing on her, when she had no intention of giving him what he wanted.

She wanted what they’d had before, when they could spend all the time in the world together, and she hadn’t given it a second thought.

She needed simplicity right now.

Unfortunately it didn’t look like it was to be. Because she could see Jane heading for her office.

“Hello Lisbon,” he said cheerfully as he swung through the door. “And how are you this fine afternoon?”

“Fine,” she said quickly. “I’m fine. How are you?”

Jane quite obviously didn’t believe her, but he also didn’t call her on it. He’d seen her talking animatedly on the phone, and he could guess the subject. “Oh, I can’t complain,” he told her. “Even if today hasn’t been all that amusing.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Lisbon said dryly.

Jane grinned. “Do you know what would make it better?” he asked.

Lisbon looked immediately suspicious. She couldn’t deal with him pushing cohabitation right now. She just couldn’t. She was too stressed out and mixed up. She needed a break. “What?”

Jane kept his grin light. “A snack,” he told her. “Maybe some tea or coffee. That place around the corner. You look like you could use it. It’ll be fun. I promise.”

“You promise?” she asked tentatively. It did sound nice... 

“I do,” Jane said softly.

Lisbon hesitated. He made it sound so simple, but... “Will you promise me something else?”

“Absolutely,” Jane agreed immediately.

“You have to promise me that you won’t mention moving in. Not today, Jane,” Lisbon all but pleaded. “I can’t deal with that today.”

Jane smiled slowly. “Of course,” he assured her. “We can talk about something else. Anything you want.”

Her eyes lit up. It would be just like it’d always been. “Really?”

He nodded, more than happy to make the promise for the day. “I can tell you all about Rigsby’s misadventures trying to assemble some sort of tricycle-like thing for the little one. You missed hearing about them earlier. And I haven’t told you all that I’ve learned about the new Agent in Vice.”

“You shouldn’t gossip,” Lisbon murmured happily. 

“Everyone says that,” Jane told her. “But then everyone does.”

Lisbon chuckled, standing up from behind her desk. “I guess so. Oh, Jo called,” she added. “It seems there might be some awards ceremony that we’re expected to attend in the not too distant future. It’s all very tentative at this point though.”

Jane helped her put on her coat. “Well, I trust you’ll tell me what to wear if it does happen. Come on, let’s go and get you some caffeine.”

Lisbon smiled when he opened the door for her, launching into a story about poor Rigsby’s issues with unclear instructions. She didn’t understand why he couldn’t always be like this. This was nice. She already felt calmer.

Jane casually put a hand on her waist. He was missing a few missing links in Lisbon’s brain, but he thought he could fill in most of the details. He certainly owed Jo a favour for her text message.

“ _Jane, Lisbon needs to go for coffee. Now. If you have even half a brain, you’ll get on that.”_

xxx

TBC


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

xxx

Of course, the calm didn’t last. Two days later, Lisbon was worried again.

Jane was behaving strangely.

And not the usual strangely. This wasn’t his odd, rather single-minded pursuit of, well, _her_.

This was something else entirely. In fact, it was almost the opposite.

Lisbon would have suspected that it was some new, insane, reverse-psychology scheme of Jane’s, like he was playing hard to get. But something told her there was more to it.

Because he didn’t look like he was in the middle of a plan today. There wasn’t the now familiar spark behind his eyes when he looked at her. In fact, when he’d set a cup of coffee on her desk this morning (without saying a word, another bad sign), he’d looked almost sad. 

He also wasn’t in the bullpen. If she had to guess, she’d put money on the CBI attic. Which further worried her.

Yes, she was worried. Something was wrong, and she didn’t know what.

He hadn’t said anything. Not even when she’d caught him in the break room and asked if he was alright. Jane usually told her these things now. She’d thought…

Well, never mind.

She couldn’t think of anything obvious that would have upset her consultant. That certainly didn’t mean there wasn’t anything. It just meant that she’d have to go ask him.

Lisbon nodded to herself. Yes. She and Jane were friends, whatever recent nonsense was going on. She would go and ask him right now. Because he was upset, and she didn’t like it.

Mind made up, Lisbon stood up and went in search of her consultant.

xxx

Jane was lying on a board in the attic. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to be, but he wasn’t sure he wanted comfort. He definitely wanted solitude.

Which might have been a lie. He wasn’t sure he wanted solitude, but he certainly needed it, and the attic had that spades. Most of the time. 

He knew Lisbon was worried, and he felt badly about that, but it was better than the alternative. He just needed a day to get things sorted out, a day to himself, to brood. He would be back to his usual self tomorrow. This would all blow over. She would forget her worry eventually.

That was when he heard the soft knock on the door. Jane sighed. He should have known. Well, he’d just have to convince her he was fine (or if that failed, make her go away).

Jane made sure he was composed as the door slide open.

“Jane?” Lisbon asked softly as she stepped into the room. “Whatcha doing?”

“Just thinking,” he told her.

Lisbon nodded. “About anything in particular?”

“Oh, this and that,” he said lightly.

Lisbon walked over to him slowly. “Anything I can do to help?”

“No,” Jane told her, finally opening his eyes as she approached. “There’s nothing that needs helping.”

“You sure?” Lisbon pressed.

“I am,” Jane insisted.

“Because if you wanted someone to talk to,” Lisbon offered tentatively. “I’m here.”

Jane’s eyes narrowed for a moment. She might have been there, but he couldn’t talk to her. “I’m fine,” he said, more curtly than he’d intended.

He could see the faint signs of hurt on her face. “I just thought…”

“I just want some time alone, Teresa,” he said neutrally. “If a case comes up, you know where I am.”

“Jane…”

“What?” he demanded, irritated with her for pushing.

The determination washed out of her. “Never mind,” she said quietly. “I’ll leave you to it.”

Jane closed his eyes. He didn’t want to see the defensive slant to her shoulders or the hurt in the clenched hands she’d shoved in her pockets. “Thank you,” he murmured

The last thing he heard before the door slid shut was her muttered, “Whatever.”

He winced. Well, that might have gone better, but it couldn’t be helped. It was a conversation he didn’t want to have with her now, maybe not ever.

Just because she might understand it, didn’t mean that he _had_ to tell her.

There were, after all, several things that a man didn’t exactly want to tell the woman he was pursuing.

When a man was pursuing a woman, he wanted to make himself look good. Not that he looked great now, but better than the alternative.

It would be better tomorrow, Jane assured himself. He’d fix it tomorrow. As it was, he’d all but ensured that Lisbon wouldn’t want his company tonight. He’d be all alone. No one else would come up here, not after he’d chased her away.

The thought made him queasy, even as he pushed it aside. It’d been unpleasant, but necessary. And that was the end of it. Nothing he could do now anyway.

xxx

But it turned out Jane’s assumption was wrong. He hadn’t managed to chase Lisbon away completely, just delay her a little.

At about eight o’clock he heard footsteps on the stairs. Angry footsteps. The attic door was wrenched open and Teresa Lisbon strode into the room.

“Get your things, we’re leaving,” she ordered.

“Do we have a case?” Jane asked, though he already suspected not.

“You know we don’t,” Lisbon snapped. “We’re going to my place. I need to talk to you.”

“What’s wrong with talking here?” he wondered.

“I don’t want to talk here,” Lisbon growled. “Not at work.”

It was the first time she’d given him any indication that they might have a separate relationship beyond just work. Jane sat up in surprise. “Teresa…”

But Lisbon cut him off with a shake of her head. “Don’t you _Teresa_ me. Now get up before I drag you out of the building by your damn ear.”

Jane was too surprised to do anything other than what she asked (besides the heat in her eyes made him half afraid she might carry out her threat). He could feel her glare on his back all the way down the stairs. It softened slightly on the car ride to her condo, but Jane could still see a myriad of emotions swirling inside her and her posture was still tense as she led the way into her home.

Not that he was particularly calm himself. He knew he looked relaxed, but his stomach was churning.

What a day.

She didn’t deserve to deal with him, shouldn’t have to really. He’d wanted to spare her. 

But all he’d managed was to somehow make everything worse.

She was angry. Really angry. And deep down he was unbelievably relieved she’d come. 

Lisbon waited until he was safely inside her condo before she spoke.

“We need to talk,” she told him.

Jane nodded, resisting the urge to touch her. “So you said.”

She took a deep breath. “Would you like something to drink?”

Jane closed his eyes briefly. He wasn’t in the mood for delays. If she was going to kick him to the curb, or something, he needed her to do it now. If she didn’t, well, there was no telling what stupid thing he’d do. “Just say what you’re going to say, Teresa.”

“You’re keeping something from me,” Lisbon informed him bluntly, the fire back behind her eyes.

Jane opened his mouth to reply, though he wasn’t quite sure what it was going to say.

In the end it didn’t matter since she didn’t let him say anything. “Don’t bother trying to deny it. I know you are. I may not be as perceptive as you are Jane, but I know something’s wrong. You used to tell me things. Sometimes I think I was the only person you told anything to. And now you’re not. You’ve stopped.”

“Lisbon,” Jane tried to interrupt.

“Now, you’ve told me some pretty horrific things over the past few years. ” Lisbon continued, glaring at him from across her living room. “Trusted me with a lot, and I have stood by you every damn time, no matter what you did, or why, or how stupid it was. I _always_ helped you. And now you’re telling me it’s nothing and to go away. The way I see it, there’s only three possible reasons for that. One, you’re in serious danger, and you’re trying to protect me. Two, you’re planning something seriously illegal, worse than anything you’ve ever done before, which is saying something by the way. If it’s either of those two, I will kick your ass so hard, you won’t be able to sit down for a week. Or reason number three, your silence has something to do with, well, with everything that’s been going on since Oregon.”

Jane’s head jerked up. He hadn’t expected her to call him on that, particularly not so directly.

“I thought so,” Lisbon said softly. She took a step towards him. “In that case, I can’t do this. Any of it. I won’t go to dinner. I won’t go to the movies. I... If this is going to, if you can’t, if you can’t tell me things, if you don’t trust me, if I can’t talk to you anymore because of… This isn’t going to work. At all.” Her voice began to waver. “You’re my friend Jane, and I need… I won’t give that up. So if this means that I lose that, I won’t do it anymore. I… I _can’t_.”

In three steps, Jane was across the room, crushing her against his chest. “I’m sorry,” he whispered into her hair. “I’m sorry.”

She was stiff in his arms for a split second, before wrapping her arms around his waist tightly with an involuntary sigh of relief. “S’okay,” she whispered against his shoulder.

Jane hugged her closer. He’d missed her all day. He knew that now. He’d wanted her, even as he’d told himself it was best if she was far away. He’d been trying to protect the fragile new thing between them, and fool that he was, he’d threatened it even more. He’d made her doubt… Jane’s brain stalled, realizing what she’d just (possibly inadvertently) implied. 

She’d been considering it, thinking about it. Moving in together. Okay, maybe not the moving in together, but some of it. She’d been thinking about the shift in their relationship, wondering if it might work.

The rush of joy nearly knocked him off his feet. He would convince her, he would. He just needed to… stop being a moron.

His brain settled back down to the reality of their terrible day (although it felt slightly less terrible now).

He felt Lisbon pull away slightly and barely resisted the urge to drag her back. She met his eyes and he was relieved to see hers looked slightly hopeful instead of angry. “Can we talk now?”

Jane gave in. He should have known she’d get it out of him eventually. She always did. Sometimes he wondered why he bothered fighting her. 

He nudged her over to her couch, pulling her onto it next to him. “There’s a family that owns one of the stalls in my favourite farmer’s market,” Jane started to explain.

“The one near the bowling alley,” Lisbon murmured. He’d been raving about it for years now.

Jane nodded. “Anyway, the father’s always stressed now, because he’s teaching his daughter to drive. He regales anyone within earshot about his troubles. Today his daughter was working with him, so I got to hear both sides of the story.” Jane took a breath, shutting his eyes. “My daughter would have been sixteen this year, is all.”

Lisbon’s heart ached for him. She slipped her hand in his.

He opened his eyes in silent question.

She smiled softly. “Why didn’t you think you could tell me?”

He glanced down at their hands, shrugging. It hadn’t seemed ideal, talking about his family and the pain in his past to the woman he was trying to convince he was a good romantic partner. “My past isn’t pretty, Lisbon,” he muttered. “And things are better now, but they’re not perfect.” He was far from perfect. He was damaged, and only just putting himself back together. He hadn’t really wanted to shove a glaring reminder of that fact in her face.

He was trying to win her, not scare her off.

She frowned. “And it would somehow be better for me if you never talked about your daughter? If you forgot about her? Because I’ve got to tell you Jane, from my perspective that sounds a million times worse than feeling sad about her sometimes.”

Jane wasn’t quite sure what to say to that.

“And as for your past not being pretty, well, _really? You don’t say?_ That is all news to me, because I just fell off the back of a turnip truck and haven’t known you for the last ten years!” Lisbon said sarcastically. “Do you genuinely think I expected you to be 100% happy every day now that Red John’s dead? To never think about the last ten years? Or your family? Never remember your wife, or your daughter? Never grieve for them? Are you an idiot?”

“Well, I was thinking moron, but, uh, yeah, quite possibly,” Jane murmured, unsure of what else to say. He’d apparently forgotten about her near endless capacity for forgiveness and understanding.

Lisbon softened again when she saw the expression in his eyes. It was an odd mixture of relief and grief. “I understand,” she told him.

“That I might be a moron?” Jane asked, trying to joke.

Lisbon shook her head. “No, Well, that too actually. But I meant the other thing. Maybe not completely, but enough.”

Jane pulled back her against him, tucking her head beneath his. This was so much better than the attic, and not just because her couch was more comfortable. “I’m sorry,” he muttered again. “It’s been a bad day.” _  
_  
“It’s fine,” Lisbon assured him. It was. What’d worried her more was how effectively he’d shut her out, just like he’d used to do when Red John had been bothering him. She’d meant what she’d said. She wasn’t expecting him to be magically happy now, but she admitted she did expect him to trust her. “Just, if you’re upset, I want to know why,” she told him. “I want you to tell me.” She wanted to try and fix it. She couldn’t help it.

Jane raised an eyebrow. “Does this mean you’re going to tell me when you’re upset?”

Lisbon froze. 

He nudged her.

“I’ll work on it,” she muttered eventually, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Mmkay,” Jane hummed, toying with the ends of her hair, and shifting so that she was in a more comfortable position. It felt nice, having her there. The ache inside him had lessened a little.

Then his stomach growled.

Lisbon’s head was off his shoulder like a shot. “Jane! Have you eaten supper today?”

He winced. He might have forgotten that. He hadn’t eaten lunch either, but he certainly wasn’t going to bring it up.

She growled, bounding off the couch. Jane barely suppressed his whine as he tried to grab her back.”

She didn’t notice. “I’ll reheat some leftover lasagna,” she told him.

Jane paused. Lisbon’s lasagna was amazing.

She was already in her kitchen, bustling about. There was very little he could do to stop her at this point. He moved to stand. “I can help,” he offered.

“No, you stay there,” she ordered. “I’ll get it. I’m just tossing it in the microwave anyway, and I’ve already started the water boiling for tea.”

Jane dropped back onto her couch. He supposed he could let her fuss a bit.

“Teresa,” he said softly as she flitted about her kitchen

She paused, spinning on her heels towards him. “Hm?”

“I would never risk your friendship,” he told her. There had been a time he might have, but not anymore.

She nodded once, before turning sharply back towards the kettle and fishing noisily through her cupboards.

She wouldn’t risk his either.

xxx

She sat with him the entire evening. They didn’t really talk; she simply gave him his lasagna and made him tea before settling next to him on the couch. She was unsurprised to see that a classic movie was on the screen. She was a bit surprised when she found out he’d raided her collection instead of just settling for whatever happened to be on television.

When the first movie was done, she picked the second while he made a fresh pot of tea. And then she offered her spare room. When he looked like he was about to refuse, she ordered him to take it. It had nothing to do with his insane moving-in-together scheme. It was about something more important.

She wasn’t sending him off by himself tonight. He needed a friend. Anyway, it was late, and they were well used to sleeping a room away from each other.

Something that Jane evidently remembered, if the sad smile he sent her before agreeing was anything to go by.

And was why, when Lisbon walked downstairs the next morning, she wasn’t surprised to find coffee waiting for her and why she didn’t even hesitate before putting four slices of toast in her toaster.

What did surprise her was the arm around her waist and the lingering kiss on her cheek when she was finishing drying the last few breakfast dishes afterward.

She tried not to think about how he’d never done that before when they’d done chores together. And she tried not to think about how much better he looked than the night before. And she tried not to think about the way he was smiling at her.

And most of all, she tried not to think about how happy she was.

xxx

Jane was having a good day. He was having a great day, actually.

And not just in comparison to the day before.

He’d spent the night at Lisbon’s. With Lisbon.

Platonically, of course. They’d watched movies and drank tea; that was it. But still. That was exactly what he’d needed, even if he hadn’t known it.

She’d basically ordered him to stay with her, told him he shouldn’t be alone, that he didn’t need to be alone.

He didn’t want to be alone. And he didn’t just want her when he needed comforting.

He wanted it to be like this morning. He wanted her smile when she came downstairs. He wanted to make breakfast together. He wanted to kiss her, and he wanted to go to work together.

(He wanted other things too, things involving her wearing the red dress and... not wearing the red dress. But right now, he would settle for breakfast.)

He just needed to convince her that they should be together when they were happy, and not just when they were sad.

That it was possible.

It wouldn’t be perfect. He would never be perfect, and he would probably hurt her more than once, though he would try not to. Lisbon was better than he deserved, but he would try to make her happy, not all the time, but more than she was now.

He could see that she was still terrified, and maybe she had cause. Look what had happened to the last woman he’d loved.

But surely he’d learned his lesson. It had been a hard one, but it’d been learned.

Yes, he understood her fear. He’d be afraid himself, afraid at what he felt now, when he saw her, and afraid of possibilities, because he wasn’t using to have those.

But he’d promised himself that if he ever did catch Red John,that he would try to move on, to find someone new. He refused to give that up because of a silly thing like fear. He’d never really expected his someone to be Lisbon, but why not?

He liked her better than anyone else he knew, she was attractive, she liked looking after him, and she could use someone looking after her too (though he knew better than to tell her that).

So he refused to let the fear that sometimes lurked in his stomach drive him. He’d had a taste of something so much better than anything he’d experienced in the last decade. 

He knew it was possible to have it again, though it would take work.

Which was why, to his own shock, he’d somehow become something of an optimist.

Because he wanted them be happy together.

Surely that wasn’t too much to ask of her.

xxx

TBC


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

xxx

Lisbon was panicking, and she knew it.

But she had just cause.

Jane had just dropped her at home after taking her to a movie. _A movie_. 

He’d bought her popcorn and everything.

She’d let him stay at her house two nights ago. They’d made breakfast. And now he was taking her to movies in the evening, “Just for something to do, Teresa.” (His words.)

This wasn’t how it was supposed to work.

Jane was not supposed to be available. She’d known him for a decade and he’d been the exact opposite of available, for a whole host of reasons. He’d never notice that she was a woman. It was perfectly safe to have a little crush on him, because even if he cared, there was no way it could ever work. 

But now, somehow, a lot of those reasons had vanished. And it was like... it was like he was trying to make it work.

Except that her relationships _didn’t_ work. They all ended badly, with her leaving, or the guy checking out, or...

Or just never being available in the first place. Hard to lose what was never really yours.

She didn’t want to lose Jane.

She couldn’t lose him.

But he was being so absurd about this. _Let’s move in together Lisbon. It’ll be fine! Just dandy! Nothing odd about that at all. We lived together platonically for weeks; we can continue on! Oh, but also, I’m going to start randomly kissing you and taking you out to dinner, and..._

Ugh. She couldn’t deal with this. She needed a break, time to think. But she never got time to think because Jane was always there. And he was always charming, and well, wonderful.

Okay, not always, but he was entitled to have an off day. And when he did, then she was there, because someone needed to be, and she didn’t want him all alone when he was upset. And she was his friend, and they supported each other. They understood each other, got along well. People never seemed to understand why they were as close as they were, or how, but Lisbon did. Or she had, before the moving in together thing...

Oh it was a mess. It was all just a mess.

He wasn’t supposed to care about her. Not like this. When they were friends, that was okay. That was fine. Even before, when maybe friends wasn’t the right word to describe them...

They’d been something else, and that had been okay too. She’d liked that. She liked being important to Jane.

But there were supposed to be boundaries, to keep everyone safe.

He’d told her he loved her once. her heart had leapt into her throat. It hadn’t been supposed to happen. But it could also be easily ignored. It’d been a stress thing. A, “We might both be going to our deaths” sort of a thing. This was different.

This felt real.

This would really hurt when it went wrong.

(And she’d already been hurt so many times.)

xxx

Jane whistled as he walked up the stairs to Lisbon’s condo, slipping into the building behind a woman carrying groceries.

He was in a good mood. Lisbon had called him and asked him to come over. Said she wanted to talk. Jane wasn’t particularly worried for all those words often didn’t mean good things. He didn’t think she was going to order him to stop seeing her outside of work hours (although she still constantly told him that he wasn’t moving in with her), so he didn’t see how bad it could possibly be.

She was Lisbon though, which meant that she worried. She probably had something bouncing around in that brain of hers, bothering her, something that most people would just dismiss or not worry about, but which she was going to agonize over forever. If that was the case, he would try to make her feel better, or sympathize, or at the very least try to take her mind off of it.

Or, maybe she’d just missed him, so she’d called to ask him to come over, but felt she needed a reason.

Jane admitted that it was optimistic, but still _possible._

He smiled at her when she opened the door. She was looking quite pretty today in a teal blouse. She’d also straightened her hair and tied it half back. He liked it like that. He liked it most ways, really.

“Hi,” she said, grinning at him. “Come on in.”

“Thanks,” he replied, noticing that she managed to look both happy and nervous.

“Do you want anything to drink?” she asked.

Jane considered the question. He noticed a half a glass of wine on the counter. “If you’re having wine, I’ll have a glass.”

She nodded, wandering over to pour him one.

“So what’s up?” Jane asked.

Lisbon shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. Now that I think about it, I probably could have just told you over the phone.”

“Probably,” Jane agreed. “But I don’t mind coming over,” he assured her as she handed him the wine. “Cheers.”

Lisbon clinked her glass against his, and watched him for a moment. “I’m going away for a few days,” she told him.

That surprised him. He hadn’t been expecting that. Still, if it was only for a few days... “Oh?”

Lisbon nodded. “Tommy called tonight. I’m going to visit this weekend. I know it’s short notice; he was going to ask me later this month, but something came up at work, so he was hoping I could make it this weekend instead. Annie’s excited. I’ve already checked with the Director and she said it was fine...”

Actually, Tanya had probably been so shocked that Lisbon was taking the time off that she’d agreed immediately, Jane thought to himself.

“So I thought, why not?” Lisbon continued. “It’s been a while since I went to visit Tommy and Annie. And they asked me while we were in Oregon, I don’t know if you remember...”

“I remember,” Jane murmured, smiling slightly. “I think that’s great.”

Lisbon paused, looking at him in surprise. “You do?”

Jane nodded. “I do. You’re obviously thrilled about your little trip.” The happiness was practically spilling out of her, underneath the nerves and the concern being directed towards him.

“I guess I am,” Lisbon admitted. “Gotta go make sure my little brother’s keeping it together.”

“You know he is,” Jane reminded her.

Lisbon nodded. “I miss him.”

“I know,” Jane told her, watching her carefully, trying to figure out what the problem was. He knew her relationship with Tommy hadn’t always been smooth sailing, but they’d been doing a lot better for the past few years. Lisbon was trying to rein in her over-protectiveness, since it just made her brother defensive, and Jane was pretty sure they were both trying to communicate more. There were rough patches and sensitive subjects, but it was a pretty solid relationship, so Jane wasn’t sure why she looked uncertain.

“You going to be okay while I’m gone?” Lisbon asked, studying her wineglass.

And that was when it all fell into place. She was worried about _him_. Jane couldn’t say he was upset about that. He liked that she was concerned about how he would react if she went away, even for a few days. But she’d also gotten the wrong impression. He was a grown man after all. Yes, he was pursuing her, and persistently too, but he was also more than capable of spending a few days on his own. He’d been alone for years.

“Lisbon,” he said gently, reaching for her elbow. “You do realize that I’m not stalking you?”

Her head whipped up. “What? What the hell, Jane!”

Jane grinned. “Just checking,” he told her.

She glared at him. “What kind of a question is that?”

“Well,” he explained. “You do seem to be under some kind of mistaken impression about what I want here.”

“How would I know what you want?” Lisbon demanded. “You just keep asking to move in with me.”

“Because that’s exactly what I want,” Jane explained. “But not before you’re ready. I keep asking, because I know you have no problem declining my request in the meantime. And to remind you that I still want that.”

“Okay,” Lisbon muttered. “So what does that have to do with stalking me?”

Jane grinned. “Nothing. I do want to move in with you Lisbon, but that doesn’t mean I expect you to stick by my side 24/7. Go, visit your family. You deserve it. I’m sure you’ll have a lovely time. I’ll be here when you come back, waiting for you.”

Lisbon eyed him suspiciously. Jane was being surprisingly mature about all of this. One never knew how he would take anything. She’d half expected him to insist on coming with her, or something equally insane. Or to sulk. Instead he was, well, he was being kind of sweet. “Okay.”

Jane grinned. “You will come back to me, won’t you?”

Lisbon smiled slightly. “Well, I do live here, so...”

“So I don’t have to worry about you being swept off your feet by one of Tommy’s bounty hunter colleagues,” Jane concluded.

“Bounty hunters don’t really have colleagues in a traditional sense,” Lisbon pointed out.

“You know what I mean,” Jane told her.

“Hmm,” Lisbon murmured, deciding not to answer.

Jane grinned. “Oh, and I’ll miss you Teresa. Try and miss me a little bit, would you?”

Lisbon bit her lip. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said dryly.

“Are you going to bring me back a present?” Jane asked cheerfully. 

Lisbon just laughed.

xxx

The days until Lisbon’s long weekend seemed to fly by. It felt like no time at all had passed before she was being hugged almost simultaneously by both brother and niece.

The four day weekend was pretty casual, exactly the break Lisbon needed. She’d wanted a bit of time away from Jane and his odd method of wooing a woman to figure out her own mind. There was no one better than an annoying little brother to distract a big sister from her own life.

Tommy wasn’t the only distraction of course. He’d not-so-subtly arranged for a few private outings for her and his daughter. Not that Lisbon minded of course. One, she always enjoyed spending time with Annie, and two, she agreed with her brother that Annie could probably use a little girl time with a woman other than her mother. Not that she’d ever tell Annie that.

At the moment the two of them were lounging on the couch, half watching a Gilmore Girls rerun, while Tommy was out on some kind of mysterious errand. Lisbon was pretty sure he’d made something up, but hadn’t bothered to call him on it. Anyway, it meant she got to sit and eat ice cream with her niece, and that was never a bad thing.

Except, that sometimes teenage nieces were more curious than their aunts liked.

“How’s work going?” Annie asked, digging into the cookies n’ cream.

Lisbon shrugged. “Fine. Same old, same old. Interview people, catch bad guys, arrest ‘em.”

“Shoot anyone?” Annie suggested.

“No!” Lisbon said. “I very rarely fire my gun, Annabeth, you know that.”

Annie held up her hands. “I know, sorry.”

Lisbon shook her head. She really needed to have a chat with Tommy about Annie’s fascination with firearms. It was probably nothing, but... “Besides, shooting someone’s an awful lot of paperwork.”

“What about Jane?” Annie asked.

Lisbon smirked. “Still the same amount of paperwork, though it’d be almost certain to be ruled justified.”

Annie laughed. “No, I meant how _is_ Jane?”

Lisbon knew that tone of voice all too well. It meant she was probably about to get interrogated. “Annabeth…”

Annie grinned. “Oooh, my full name. Touchy subject Aunt Reese?”

Lisbon laughed. “Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous.”

“So?” Annie pressed.

Lisbon played dumb. “So, what?”

Annie rolled her eyes, obviously unimpressed with her aunt. “So, _how’s Jane?_ ”

“Ask me in a normal tone of voice and I might tell you,” Lisbon shot back.

Annie sat up straight and put her hands primly in her lap. “Dearest Aunt Teresa, I would like to politely ask about the well-being of Mr. Patrick Jane, your consultant.”

“I said a normal tone of voice,” Lisbon reminded her, laughing again.

“That was a normal tone of voice,” Annie argued. “For some people at least. Come on.”

“Why are you so interested in this?” Lisbon asked, knowing she was stalling.

But Annie was determined. Lisbon made a mental note that she might not be too bad at interrogating. “I can’t be interested?” Annie asked. “I like Jane.”

That made Lisbon smile. “Good. I’m glad.”

Annie took advantage of the moment of weakness and went in for the kill. “And you lived together for almost a month.”

“For work,” Lisbon explained patiently.

Her niece raised her eyebrows. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

“Annie…” Lisbon started to argue, before deciding not to rise to the bait. “Jane’s fine. I think he’s doing well, definitely better since, well…”

“Since Red John’s death,” Annie filled in.

Lisbon nodded. There was no point in denying it. “Yeah.”

“Hm,” her niece considered that. “Was it weird living with him?”

Since Annie’s tone was serious, Lisbon answered the question. “Nah. We’ve been on the road too many times already. Too many hotel rooms next to each other, that sort of thing.”

“Hmm,” Annie hummed again.

“I’ll tell him you asked,” Lisbon told her. She had a feeling Jane would like that. He’d always liked Annie. Lisbon had her suspicions as to why, but didn’t call him on it. It wasn’t hurting anyone after all, and may in fact be helping.

“Sure,” Annie murmured.

“He’ll like that you asked,” Lisbon added.

“Hmm,” Annie said again. Lisbon was about to ask what she was thinking, when Annie spoke again. “He likes you.”

“We’ve worked together ten years,” Lisbon pointed out.

Annie shook her head. “Not what I meant.”

Lisbon resisted the urge to grind her teeth. She did not need this right now. “Annie…”

“What?” Annie asked. “Dad’s always saying I need more female time with a responsible adult. I think he feels bad about that. Isn’t that what this is?”

“I think he meant more, I was supposed to give you tips on growing up and surviving high school, not you were supposed to pry into my love life,” Lisbon explained.

“Who said anything about your love life?” Annie wondered. “I was talking about Jane.”

Lisbon admitted she’d walked into that one, but she held firm. “You implied it in your tone.”

“I think you’re projecting,” Annie said airily.

“I think you’re being a pain in the ass,” Lisbon said with a laugh.

“Just practicing my interrogation techniques,” Annie shot back.

Lisbon set down her empty bowl of ice cream. “Save it for someone who hasn’t made a career of it.”

Annie frowned before plowing ahead. “Dad worries about you too, y’know. Thinks you’re lonely.”

Lisbon felt a pang of guilt about that. Tommy didn’t need to worry about her. He had enough on his plate. She made a mental note to call and check in with her brother more. “He doesn’t need to worry about that. You especially don’t need to worry about that. I’ll talk to him. You just concentrate on being a kid.”

“Maybe you should visit more,” Annie suggested tentatively.

Lisbon leaned back against the couch with a smile. Maybe she should. “So I can be interrogated?”

Annie shook her head. “So you can show me how to throw a curve ball that actually catches the strike zone.”

Lisbon smirked. “Your Dad always always was a terrible pitcher.”

“Yeah,” Annie agreed emphatically.

Lisbon stood up, stretching. “Alright, come on.”

Annie’s eyes lit up. “Now? Cool.”

“Sure. You got a glove I can borrow?” Lisbon asked. She’d rather give a pitching lesson than talk about boys any day.

“Yup,” Annie said cheerfully. “Hey Aunt Reese? D’you think this counts as woman time?”

Lisbon was glad of a question she was sure of the answer to. “Absolutely.”

“Does Jane know how to throw a curveball?” Annie asked curiously.

Lisbon smirked. “Jane wouldn’t know a curveball if it hit him smack in the forehead.”

Baseball may not have been one of Jane’s strengths, but he had others. He was a complex man, and one that she was going to have to deal with eventually. The past few days had been a lovely break. But she’d be back in Sacramento the next evening. Somehow she had a feeling he might drop by.

xxx

TBC


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

xxx

She’d only been home a couple of hours when she heard the knock. Lisbon opened the door to find Jane. She couldn’t say that she was surprised to see him.

She also couldn’t say that she was unhappy to see him standing there. She could feel a giant smile spreading across her face, happy to note an answering one on Jane’s.

Before she could say so much as hello, he’d stepped across the threshold, cupped her cheek with his hand and kissed her.

That didn’t surprise her either.

What did surprise her (as it always did), was the affection in the kiss. Jane never seemed to be demanding anything, just a constant acknowledgement of what he wanted from her. And that he was there.

It frightened her, as did the fact that she hadn’t hesitated in wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

Frightening as it was, she also knew that if Jane suddenly stopped brushing his hand against her hip bone, or tucking her hair behind her ear, she’d probably miss it.

No wonder she was confused most of the time.

Although not at the moment.

She bit her lip when he pulled away, leaning his forehead against hers. “Welcome back,” he murmured.

“I missed you,” she blurted out before she could stop herself (didn’t want to stop herself if she was honest). He’d called her twice while she’d been at Tommy’s, but it hadn’t been the same.

Jane’s smile expanded back to a beam. “I missed you too,” he assured her, the hand on her cheek dropping down to stroke her hipbone.

Lisbon tried to keep her smile at some kind of normal level.

“Do you want to come in?” she asked tentatively.

“No,” Jane told her with a shake of his head. “I just dropped by to kiss you and tell you that I missed you.”

“Well in that case,” Lisbon murmured, moving to shut the door.

Jane stopped her with a firm hand on her door, and slipped into her condo. “I suppose I deserved that,” he told her. 

Lisbon nodded.

“Although, it does make me wonder if you deserve these,” he told her, pulling a bouquet of daisies from behind his back.

Lisbon’s breath caught slightly and all hopes of keeping her smile at a normal level were crushed. “ _Oh._ ”

Jane grinned at her. “Did you have a good weekend, dear?”

Lisbon nodded, taking her flowers and wandering off to find a vase.

“You know, I may have to rethink my position on you going to visit your family?” he told her.

“Hmm?” Lisbon wondered, idly arranging her daisies. 

“Hmm,” Jane agreed. “I think you may have to stay in town, or maybe I could travel with you.”

She turned back towards him, crossing her arms, both pleased and annoyed. “Oh, you think that, do you?”

Jane nodded. “Or, alternatively, you could just not go on another trip without me for a while, let me get over my disappointment.”

“You’re impossible,” she informed him.

He shrugged, “I might be exaggerating.”

“ _Might?_ ” 

“Sometimes it’s hard to say,” he replied. “There’s definitely a grain of truth involved.”

Lisbon rolled her eyes, letting herself enjoy the familiar rhythms of their conversation. “Jane…”

“I’m not going to start stalking you, Teresa,” he assured her. “Don’t you worry.”

“Well, that’s a load off my mind,” she replied.

“I just missed you more than I was expecting to,” Jane admitted. “I thought you should know.”

Lisbon froze, turning back towards him to catch the twinkle in his eyes. “Oh.”

“Oh,” he agreed. “So, did you have a good time?”

Lisbon smiled softly. “Yeah, I did. I had a great time.”

Jane relaxed against her counter. She had, it was obvious. “Annie and Tommy are well?”

“Annie and Tommy are great,” Lisbon corrected. “At least, they seem to be. Annie asked about you.”

“Did she?” Jane asked, feeling oddly pleased.

“Mmhm,” Lisbon agreed, knowing he enjoyed that, just as she’d known he would. “She wasn’t sure how I managed to survive almost a month in the same house with you.”

“Naturally,” Jane agreed.

“But she was glad to hear you were doing alright,” Lisbon added.

“So what else did you girls talk about?” Jane wondered.

Lisbon shrugged. “This and that. I taught her to throw a better curve ball than her Dad ever could.”

Jane laughed. “Of course you did.”

“Tommy’s cooking’s gotten better though,” Lisbon said. 

“Probably because he had to learn to feed his daughter,” Jane pointed out.

“Probably,” Lisbon agreed. After all, hers had gotten better learning to cook for her brothers.

“So is there going to be a return visit impending?” Jane asked.

Lisbon bit her lip. “Sure. Probably. I hope so.”

“Good,” Jane agreed.

“And you?” Lisbon asked. “How was your weekend?”

Jane shrugged. “Uneventful. No case, so work was a bit of a bore. I spent one day spying on Fraud. The new boss there’s a bit scatterbrained. Not in the field, I gather, but in the office. It’s entertaining.”

Lisbon stared at him. “Jane, you can’t mock the other teams!”

“Why not? They didn’t know I was doing it. And I reported back to our team, which boosted morale. Besides, it’s a learning experience. We all know several things not to do now, like casually setting a file of completed paperwork on a shredder while discussing something with a subordinate. Far too easy to accidentally lean against the on button apparently. Although, I’m still not sure quite how he managed to do it.”

Lisbon’s attempt at looking stern was ruined by her chuckles.

“So you don’t have any plans for the evening?” she asked.

Jane grinned. “I was hoping I could coax you out for a walk.”

She smiled. “I suppose your exercise level has plummeted since I left.”

“You suppose correctly,” Jane told her.

Lisbon shook her head. “Well, then I suppose I could squeeze you in.”

It would have been lonely, leaving Annie and Tommy and coming back to her apartment. Except that she’d known Jane would be there.

He was always there now, talking to her and buying her flowers, kissing her, planning outings. It was confusing, but it wasn’t so bad. He was charming and flattering and...

And she found that she didn’t always mind him doing, whatever it was he was doing. 

Because even if he was crazy, he also made her feel pretty good.

xxx

Lisbon was enjoying the silence between them as they walked back to her condo. Jane had been right, it was a lovely night. And she always enjoyed their walks together. She was happy to keep up the tradition, particularly since it would be good for Jane. Her too, she supposed.

That was when he interrupted her reverie. “You know Lisbon, I got used to spending close to 24 hours in your general proximity.”

Lisbon sighed, a vague sense of uneasiness brewing in her gut. Her extreme happiness at seeing him again catching up to her and adding to her nerves. This was getting too important. He was getting too important. “I know,” she said as sympathetically as she could. “I know the adjustment coming back from Oregon’s been a bit of a change.”

“It is, which is why I think we should be open to a bit of a shift in our relationship,” Jane added, trying to keep things light.

Her earlier uneasiness turned to lead in her stomach. She couldn’t deal with more of a shift right now. She could barely deal with her own happiness. She wasn’t used to it. “Jane...”

“Lisbon, Teresa,” he murmured, taking her hand and spinning her towards him. He wasn’t trying to push, but he did want to maybe talk about considering a change. He’d missed her even more than he’d been expecting to while she was gone. “I just want to know, well... Can you tell me why you’re so resistant to this? I only want to spend more time with you. I wish you could see that. Sometimes relationships change naturally.” 

But she didn’t _want_ them to change. Things were already better than she could have ever hoped for even a year ago. She’d thought she was fine with it, but maybe she wasn’t. “I’m not letting you move in with me!” she said in a panic.

“Who said anything about moving in with you?” Jane asked, trying to back track a bit. Apparently even his attempt at casually coming around to anything resembling the subject had frightened her. 

“You did!” Lisbon said. “The day I left to visit Tommy and Annie, and a million other times in between.”

Jane shrugged. She needn’t take that tone. “But not today, and I don’t know why you’re so against the idea.”

She stared at him. “You don’t... People don’t just move in together Jane.”

“Actually, they do,” he pointed out.

She sighed. “It’s not that simple, Jane.”

“Why not?” he demanded.

“You sound like a five year old,” Lisbon informed him quickly.

“I don’t care,” Jane shot back. “Why not?” he asked again, holding her gaze and refusing to look away.

She faltered, but just slightly. “Because life is complicated.”

“Bravo Lisbon,” Jane said cynically. “That’s quite the tautological argument you’ve presented there.”

“Jane I…” He watched her falter again. Then she took a breath and started again more firmly. “Look...”

But he cut her off. “I told you that I was going to pursue you,” he reminded her quietly (but forcefully) as they reached her front door.

Lisbon swallowed. He had, and she... she didn’t know what that meant. She didn’t like the idea of it. Some of it was fun, but it would change things, and then they would go wrong, and... And it would be one thing if she was good at this, but she wasn’t. “ _You can’t_ ,” she told him, her voice close to breaking.

Jane’s brow furrowed. “Why not?” he asked more gently. “And don’t tell me I sound like a five year old.”

To her shock, Lisbon felt the beginnings of tears pricking in the back of her eyes. “Because it’s insane,” she whispered.

Jane was frowning now. “What do you mean? No it isn’t. How on earth is it insane?”

Lisbon shook her head quickly, trying to clear it. “I can’t… I have to go.” She opened her door, determined to flee inside.

Even so, she still heard Jane’s last question echoing behind her before the door clicked shut behind her. “Why would it possibly be insane, Teresa?”  
 _  
Why?_ she wondered, as she leaned against the door for support.

“Because it just is,” she whispered to herself, letting herself slump against the door. Because if they did this, she’d probably lose him.

She would screw it up, and it would be over.

Blinking rapidly, she straightened her shoulders and walked into her condo, determined not to think about it.

xxx

Luckily for Lisbon, the next morning Jane seemed to realize that she needed her space. He left her rather considerately alone, for the most part, maintaining an easy friendship when they did meet.

Lisbon felt herself relax, hopeful that their friendship could go back to the way it’d always been.

It was only when Jane’s polite distance stretched into a second day that she realized things weren’t the same. And they wouldn’t be. She also knew that this time it was up to her.

After all, Jane was right in a way, she was the one digging her heels in when it came to shifting their relationship. Obviously he was having a bit of trouble adjusting after Portland. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t feeling the difference herself. It wouldn’t hurt to spend a little bit of time together. Friendly time. Like they had been (although, she didn’t know where the kissing fit in all of this, but she would just ignore that for now). She’d been enjoying the time they spent together, at least she had been up until their last walk when she’d completely panicked.

She bet Jane had been eating out more than he should, now that they weren’t living together anymore. The two of them had gotten used to sharing the cooking.

And, she had been enjoying the time they were spending together. Jane had that effect on her, when he was being sweet.

But maybe she wasn’t having the same effect on him.

Lisbon took a deep breath. Okay. That was a problem. That was why... She’d told him she was terrible at this. But she didn’t want him to be upset.

Maybe she would ask him to dinner tomorrow night. They could have dinner. That would be okay. 

Yes.

Yes, that would be good.

xxx

She deliberately caught him as he walked by her office. She met him at the doorway and cocked her head, gesturing him inside.

He veered off his course to his couch immediately and followed her in, standing in the centre of her office with his hands in his pockets, while she turned to lean against her desk and tried not to fidget with her stapler.

He obviously wasn’t going to make this easier. Lisbon swallowed. Well, she supposed that was fair.

“What are you doing tomorrow night? she asked quickly.

She saw the hint of a smile in his eyes at her question. He shrugged. “Not much. We don’t have a case, and I don’t really have a hectic social calendar.”

“Wanna come over for dinner?” she asked in a whoosh. “At my place.”

Jane took a step towards her, watching her face. She looked hopeful. He smiled slowly, and watched relief creep into the edges of her expression. “I’d love to,” he assured her.

That made her smile, she looked up at him, her chin ducked down. He liked it when she looked at him like that. It made him want to kiss her. 

“Okay,” she said.

“What brought this on?” he asked, gently.

Lisbon shrugged. “I just thought... We could have dinner sometimes. If you don’t want to...”

“I already told you that I do,” Jane reminded her. “I do very much.”

“I’m sorry about before,” Lisbon tried to explain, but she wasn’t sure what to say.

Jane shook his head. “It’s okay.” He still wasn’t entirely sure what the source of her issue was, but it was obviously something significant.

“It is?” she asked.

Jane smiled slowly. “You’re allowed to not like all the things that I do, Lisbon. It doesn’t make you wrong.”

“I don’t like a lot of things you do,” Lisbon shot back. “You’re the one that’s wrong.”

“You don’t,” Jane told her. “We both know that. Although you do hate some things. It’s okay if you think I’m pushing you too hard.”

She did think that. But she didn’t want him to go away all together. “I can make dinner,” she explained.

Jane smiled again. “Can I bring something? How about dessert?”

Lisbon shook her head. “I’ve got everything under control.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

She nodded. “I’m sure.”

“So what are we having?” Jane asked.

“It’s a surprise,” Lisbon told him.

“Is it?” Jane asked curiously.

“Yes,” Lisbon nodded.

Seeing her face, Jane decided not to try and guess. She obviously wanted to do this her way. “What time?”

“Seven?” she asked. “Although it doesn’t really matter to me.”

“Seven’s fine,” Jane assured her.

“Good.”

“Okay,” he replied 

“Okay,” she repeated with a grin.

With that, Jane ducked out of her office, now with a definite spring to his step.

Lisbon went back to her paperwork with a grin.

xxx

The next night, Jane was outside her door at seven o’clock sharp.

When Lisbon let him in, she noticed he’d brought wine.

“I told you, you didn’t need to bring anything,” Lisbon grumbled.

“Well, you told me I couldn’t bring dessert, and I couldn’t just show up empty-handed; that’s just rude. It was either this or a fruit tray,” Jane told her cheerfully. He’d forgone flowers, too afraid they’d spook her.

Lisbon sighed. “Oh for Pete’s sakes. Fine. The corkscrew’s in the drawer by the sink.”

“I know,” Jane assured her, going to find it.

Yes, Lisbon admitted to herself. She supposed he did.

“So what are we having?” he asked her.

“Shepherd’s pie,” Lisbon told him.

“You didn’t make that in Portland,” Jane said after a second.

“No,” Lisbon agreed.

Jane watched her. “Why not?”

“It can be a lot of work,” Lisbon explained. “And anyway, I only ever make it on special occasions.”

A few seconds later she felt a hand on the small of her back, looking over she saw a glass of red wine at her elbow. “Thanks,” she murmured.

Jane clinked his glass against hers. “Here’s to special occasions then.”

“To special occasions,” she repeated.

He wanted to tell her that he wasn’t going to give up on her that easily. That even if he got frustrated with her sometimes, he would be here. But the words wouldn’t come out, and anyway, any time he tried to introduce the topic of whatever their relationship was, she got skittish. Like any time anything good happened, she was just waiting for disaster to follow. So he let it be, and told himself to just enjoy the evening.

He watched instead as she tried the wine, pleased that she liked it.

He wasn’t going to be overt tonight. He was just going to show her that they could have dinner and it would be good, and that they could recover from a fight, and he would still be here.

They did enjoy dinner. It was light; it was fun.

Lisbon seemed relaxed.

So Jane took a chance. “Isn’t there a baseball game on tonight?”

“You don’t _like_ baseball,” she reminded him.

Jane sighed. “We’ve been over this, I like watching you yell at the screen.”

Lisbon shook her head, “You like provoking me.”

“You say potato…” he replied.

“Oh fine,” Lisbon grumbled. “But since you don’t actually care about the game, I think that means you should make the popcorn.”

Jane’s ears pricked up, “You have popcorn?”

“Yes,” she told him. “Which you’re making.”

“Anything you say,” he told her. “Where is it?”

“Cupboard above the stove,” she said as she walked to the living room to turn on the baseball game.

“Mm,” he said, going to find it. 

Jane was entirely unsurprised to discover that the box was new.

So he finished his evening on Lisbon’s couch, watching her alternate between the screen and try to explain what was going on to him. It never seemed to bother her that he didn’t listen all that well to her explanations of the finer points of the game. 

She was probably used to that sort of thing.

And when the game was over, he stood and stretched, and while he could see in her eyes that she was toying with asking him to stay, he quashed the urge to encourage her. Instead, he kissed her lightly on the corner of the mouth, thanked her for a lovely evening and ducked out of her apartment.

xxx

After he was gone, Lisbon puttered around her apartment tidying.

It had been a lovely evening. 

Maybe she _could_ do this. Not the moving in together, but the dinners. The walks. She could do _that._ Maybe.

She liked that.

Maybe there was a compromise somewhere. They could still stay friends, but just see more of each other. Yes. That was it.

She’d have to think about it a little more, figure out how it might work.

But surely it could work.

She really had had a lovely evening.

xxx

The next morning, when Jane got in to the CBI, he found a freshly brewed cup of tea sitting by his couch.

And the only person in was Lisbon.

He picked up the cup but didn’t sit down.

He was in the mood to take his morning nap somewhere less busy than the bullpen. Her couch would do nicely.

xxx

TBC


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

xxx

Over the next few days Jane decided not to push the whole moving in together idea. It just seemed to antagonize Lisbon. And she’d been so comfortable lately, since they’d had dinner at her place. He wondered if maybe she just needed to get used to the idea a bit more.

She obviously liked having him around. She’d even bought popcorn to eat together while watching the Cubs game.

She just wasn’t quite ready to admit it yet.

That was fine. He was used to being patient, even if he didn’t always want to.

It wasn’t like there weren’t other distractions in their lives, like their cases. 

Their current case was particularly interesting. A dead body had been found on the property of one of the big information technology companies. The CBI had been called in because of their discretion. The owner of the company was a multimillionaire hundreds of times over, and a good friend of the governor. Which meant that Lisbon’s job was to close the case as quickly as possible and make all of the fuss go away.

It was a job that set her teeth on edge. Not only did she have to play nice with the politicians, but she also needed to play nice with the press, the influential owner, _and_ his private security firm.

Although, Jane didn’t really see what Lisbon’s problem with the private security firm was. They’d actually been quite helpful. Still, he supposed it was the principle of the thing. Cops were used to running their own investigations with minimal interference and input from others. Jane supposed that made sense; outside involvement could compromise the results, particularly since guilty people tended to insert themselves into investigations out of sheer ego. But that almost certainly wasn’t the case here.

Jane put Lisbon’s reluctance down to a mixture of stubbornness and habit.

The private security firm was obviously trying to protect its client’s interests as much as possible, but there was no evidence that the murder was directly linked to anything the company was working on. In fact, Jane was pretty sure that the motive was personal, although the killer was probably also on the company payroll. Completely unconnected with the private security firm.

And anyway, Melinda Trooper, their liaison with the security firm, had made it perfectly clear that she had no intention of standing in the way of Lisbon’s investigation. Quite the opposite, she wanted the killer caught as quickly as possible. After all, the faster the case was solved, the faster she could clean up any potential messes. Melinda just wanted to minimize what got out to the press (a position which Lisbon herself often took), and to protect any proprietary information that might come to light in the investigation. 

Melinda seemed to set Lisbon’s teeth on end, but Jane didn’t mind her. A bit of an opportunist, but almost everybody was. Certainly very confident, smart, beautiful, clever, and while her sense of duty and justice wasn’t anywhere near Lisbon’s, Melinda did have scruples. She wouldn’t cover for a killer, no matter who they were. She would just make sure that, along with sending him to prison, her company was protected.

Part of Lisbon’s annoyance may have come from the fact that she’d been ordered to cooperate with the other woman by her own boss. Which meant that she had to cooperate, when normally she could have just taken what she wanted.

Still, as Jane had tried to explain to her more than once, Melinda’s requests were entirely unreasonable.

The security firm kept security video from literally hundreds of cameras. Melinda gave the CBI complete access to all of it, even offering to help sort through the footage. The only catch was that the video needed to be watched in the security firm’s building as much as possible. The CBI could bring in any tech they wanted to, but Melinda had insisted the footage itself stay on site.

She pointed out that it was a small concession, and Jane had to agree.

Which was why the three of them (himself, Melinda and Lisbon), were standing in a room with little more than a video screen, a desk and a few chairs, double-checking some security video, looking for their killer.

Lisbon was about ten minutes away from grinding her teeth, but he was enjoying debating potential suspects with Melinda.

“What about him?” Melinda asked, as yet another man in his mid-thirties walked onto the tape. “He fits the general description of our killer, and based on his outfit alone I’d say he’s a bit of a loner.”

“Nope,” Jane said with a shake of his head. “Not him.”

“How do you know?” Melinda asked.

Jane shrugged. “His shoulders were hunched. Our killer’s more confident than that. He’s sure he won’t get caught. He’s not going to skulk in front of the cameras; that would just make him look suspicious.”

Melinda sighed. A few minutes later, she tried again. “Okay, definitely him, then.”

Jane looked closer. “No.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Melinda wondered.

“Wedding ring,” Jane told her. “Our guy doesn’t have a family. He’s too self-absorbed for that.”

“Maybe he’s divorced and still wears his ring then,” Melinda suggested.

Jane shook his head. “If he is divorced, he wouldn’t wear the ring as a reminder of his failure. And I don’t believe that he’d get there in the first place. Anyway, the guy who just walked past obviously loves his wife. Probably has the white picket fence and two kids too.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Melinda asked admiringly.

Jane shrugged. “Long story. It’s mostly to do with general demeanour.”

“What about him then?” Melinda asked after a minute. “In the blue shirt, looks confident, not particularly physically strong, but definitely confident. I don’t see a wedding ring and that walk says independent if anything does.”

Jane chuckled. “Pretty sure that’s a woman. And before you ask, no it isn’t the guy behind her either. “He’s not tall enough to have delivered the final blow to the head. Besides, he’s more worried about getting home to his family than anything else. He’s distracted, and there are baby food stains on his coat.”

“Wow,” Melinda said, watching Jane admiringly. “If you’re ever looking for another job, I’d hire you in a minute. You’d definitely make more than you are right now, working for the government. No offence,” she added quickly to Lisbon.

Lisbon shrugged it off. “Yes, Jane’s a real asset. I don’t suppose you could tell us who the killer _is_ instead of who he isn’t.”

Jane sent her a smile, which she returned in spite of herself. “Patience, Lisbon,” he told her. “It’s hardly my fault that our guy hasn’t walked in front of the tape yet.”

When he looked away, Lisbon’s expression slipped back into something closer to a scowl. It’d been two days of this, watching _Melinda_ and Jane show off cold reading people. One person doing it was bad enough, she was used to that; two approached intolerable.

And now, apparently, she had to listen to the other woman try to poach her consultant right in front of her.

“That’s him!” Jane said suddenly. 

The two women leaned forward.

“Why do you think it’s him?” Lisbon asked.

To her annoyance, it was Melinda who answered. “Confident posture, but based on his wardrobe, I’d say a bit of a loner. He’s coming from the lab, near where Dean de Luca was killed, meaning he might work there. He matches the type, and he’s in the right place at about the right time, but so were probably a few dozen people. What makes you think it’s him?”

Jane smiled. “His clothes are too perfect, like he made a point of checking them after doing something that might muss them up, like commit murder. Also, you can see it in his walk. He’s only trying to look confident.”

“Oh come on,” Lisbon scoffed.

If I had access to employee security information, I could probably prove it, Jane said with a glance at Melinda.

“No,” Melinda told him. “I’m not just going to hand over our private files to you with no good reason.”

“Catching a killer is a good reason,” Jane reminded her. “What happened to full cooperation?”

Melinda smiled. “Okay, how about a little quid pro quo then? You guys scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours,” Melinda suggested.

“I’m trying to solve a murder,” Lisbon reminded her. “I can try to be as discreet as possible, but back scratching is hardly my style.”

“Sure it is,” Jane countered. “Provided the scratching gets rid of your itch and doesn’t require you scratching anything you don’t want to.”

Lisbon glared at him.

“I probably should have dropped the metaphor,” Jane admitted.

“Yeah,” she said, her glare not really lessening. Then she turned to Melinda. “What do you want?”

“A promise that you don’t leak details to the press,” Melinda said.

Lisbon was unimpressed. “I don’t do that.”

“Cops always say that, but...” Melinda started to explain.

“I don’t do it,” Lisbon repeated. “Unless there’s no other way of catching a killer, which if you just give us the information, there would be. But you already know all that, because I’m sure you looked me up the second you heard this was my case. So what do you really want?”

Melinda smiled. “I want Jane for a week, during our recruitment week. Try to weed out the good candidates from the bad.”

“Absolutely not,” Lisbon said, shaking her head.

“Three days?” Melinda tried.

“No,” Lisbon said again.

“Uh,” Jane said, trying to interrupt.

“No,” Lisbon said, glaring at him. “If you want to work with Miss Trooper, that’s up to you,” she told him. “You’ll need to make sure it doesn’t violate the terms of you contract with the CBI, but I won’t stop you. But I’m not going to barter you for potentially relevant evidence in a _murder_ investigation.” She turned back to Melinda. “When we met, I said we’d have no problems provided you didn’t try to get in the way of my investigation. I may be supposed to be tactful, but I also have no trouble going over your head here, if I need to.”

Melinda smirked, as she started to retrieve the necessary information. “You drive a hard bargain, Agent,” she said. “But you win. But I want you to mention this to your director and I want a handshake.”

“What does it matter to you?” Lisbon asked. “You’re not looking to work for the CBI. It doesn’t pay well, remember?”

Melinda smirked and handed her the data on a CD. “Never hurts to keep your options open. Speaking of which, Patrick, my offer’s sill open.”

“I’ll have to get back to you,” Jane told her, with a glance at Lisbon, who did not look pleased. Someone didn’t like the idea of their consultant being stolen. The idea made him smile. “I’ve been pretty busy lately.”

“I understand,” Melinda told them. “Come on, I’ll walk you out.”

Lisbon hadn’t been so happy to leave a room in quite some time.

xxx

Jane was right of course. The man on the tape, one Mark Porter was their killer. It hadn’t had anything to do about work. Turned out Dean de Luca’d been sleeping with his wife.

Which meant that their latest case, along with all of its potential political and PR debacles, was over.

Lisbon was unbelievably glad. Almost everything about it had rubbed her the wrong way.

Still, it should all be done soon.

Lisbon glanced up from her desk and saw Jane loitering near her office, deep in conversation. With her eyes still half on her computer screen, she tracked his progress. He was obviously making his way towards her for all that he was still engaged in conversation over his shoulder with someone just down the hall. Probably _Melinda_. She and Jane had, against all expectations, hit it off. Well, that was nice.

A private security consultant wasn’t someone Lisbon would have expected Jane to make friends with. He did tend to butt horns with anyone in any kind of authority or anyone even tangentially related to law enforcement, regulation or authority. And Melinda fell into all categories.

On the other hand, Melinda also wasn’t your typical private security consultant, which probably helped. She was flexible, a bit of a daredevil. And she was friendly and funny and pretty and she obviously liked Jane. The two of them had gotten into more than one friendly debate over the course of the case. They obviously both liked trying to best each other, whether it was in reading body language or identifying the killer.

Well, that was nice. Lisbon was glad that Jane was making friends. That would be good for him. And he did have a lot in common with Melinda. It was almost a shame that the case she’d been helping them with had been basically closed earlier that morning.

Lisbon turned her attention more fully to her computer screen just as Jane’s hand landed on her door jamb.

“Hey Lisbon,” he said cheerfully, ducking his head into the office. “Still diligently finishing up the de Luca paperwork, I see.”

“Something which would be much easier if it hadn’t involved a civilian and a CBI consultant all but coercing the confession,” Lisbon told him.

Jane’s grin widened. “You know that’s not how you’ve phrased it in your report. What were we this time, a valuable asset to the case? An innovative approach to crime-fighting? Oh, I know! Did the CBI leverage a useful collaborative partnership?”

“I’ll give you a useful collaborative partnership,” Lisbon growled, but with twinkling eyes.

“That’s not bad, Agent,” Melinda said walking up from behind Jane. “But I’m not sure how I feel about being referred to as a civilian. Surely I’m a little more than that?”

“Paperwork isn’t a great place for subtle distinctions,” Lisbon replied, her smile hardening slightly. “But we appreciate your help on the case.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what your director told me when we met this morning. Thanks for that,” Melinda told her. 

Lisbon just nodded.

Melinda paused before continuing. “I’m happy to help anytime. And anyway, it was mutually beneficial, and I learned a lot,” she added with a glance at Jane. “If you’re ever looking to freelance,” she told him. “Get out of the public machine, I would personally love to have someone with your expertise working with my company.”

Jane’s grin turned blinding. Lisbon scowled to herself. His ego certainly didn’t need any more stroking.

“I guess I should stop trying to steal your consultant,” Melinda added with a friendly smile. “You have to admit, he’s tempting. Certainly looks like he comes in handy.”

Lisbon barely managed a smile in response.

Melinda paused again, “Well, I just wanted to thank you again for your delicacy surrounding my client’s holdings.”

“That’s what they pay me for,” Lisbon said.

“I’m sure we’ll meet again,” Melinda said after a moment. “I’ll just grab my things and wait for you by the elevator, Patrick.”

Lisbon watched her go before turning to Jane. “Did you need something?” she asked, possibly a little more tersely than she’d intended.

Jane just shrugged. “Well, I wanted to make sure you weren’t drowning in a sea of bureaucracy…”

“Do I ever?” Lisbon asked.

Jane grinned. “You usually manage to keep your head above water. You are planning on eating today, right?”

Lisbon shrugged. “When I finish this. It’s faster when the information’s fresh in my mind.”

“Then I’ll leave you to it,” Jane told her. “Just don’t forget to eat. Wouldn’t want you collapsing on us this afternoon. I’m just going to grab a sandwich for lunch at the place on the corner with Melinda if you’re looking for me.”

Lisbon froze. Grabbing a sandwich with Melinda? She blinked before finding a smile and a teasing tone. “Since when do you bother to tell me in advance that you’re leaving the building?”

Jane grinned. “Just trying something new. I’ll talk to you later, Lisbon,” he added as he slipped out of the office.

Lisbon watched him go, taking a note of Melinda’s friendly smile as she joined Jane near the elevator.

Lisbon’s eyes narrowed. Well. Well, that had been… different. Jane almost never left the building for meals. Sure he disappeared on a fairly regular basis, but usually for things related to cases. Not for such prosaic events as lunch. In fact, the only person Jane ever went to lunch with was…

Lisbon bit her lip. But why shouldn’t Jane go out to lunch with Melinda? He was entitled to go to lunch with anyone he wanted to. Lisbon had no claim on him. None whatsoever. They were friends. That was it. 

It was just... she’d thought…

Never mind. It didn’t matter. She needed to finish her paperwork. She needed to be productive and practical. 

Stupid paperwork.

Of course Jane wanted to go have lunch with Melinda. She was fun and exciting. She could regale him with all sorts of her crazy adventures, all the times she’d bent the law to protect her clients and not gotten caught. Lisbon was sure there were some. Jane would love that. The two of them had a lot in common, both kind of lone wolves. And Jane had liked working with her.

And now _Melinda_ was making a play for her consultant. And why not? Jane was an asset. Lisbon wasn’t so naïve as to deny that. Now that the Red John case was done, well, Jane had said he was staying, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t start consulting on more fun things on the side. And then, maybe, he’d start having less and less time to…

Lisbon scowled. She could just picture the two of them, sitting across the table from each other. Melinda, flipping her shiny, perfect, blonde hair over her shoulder. Her hair probably always looked like that. She’d be completely poised, even in four inch stiletto heels. She was obviously not in the field that much or she’d have sprained an ankle years ago. Still, Melinda was obviously one of those perfectly put together women that made everyone around them acutely aware their hair was probably sticking up at all angles and their clothes had been purchased the year before.

And Jane was going out to lunch with her.

What had Lisbon expected? Jane had asked her to move in with him, and she’d shot him down. She’d pushed him away, for good reason obviously. She wanted to be friends. And besides, his plan was insane, but it didn’t matter. She’d pushed him away. Jane hadn’t made her any promises. Maybe she’d thought... But, it wasn’t important. It didn’t matter what she’d thought.

Of course Jane wanted to go out to lunch with a beautiful woman. Of course he was drawn to Melinda. She was attractive. She was friendly and fun and flirtatious. She was also probably capable of actually having a relationship. Her romantic history probably wasn’t a field of brief but nearly deadly skirmishes, all of which ended in heartbreak if they got anywhere at all. Melinda probably had managed to have a genuine relationship in the last five years. She was simple. Exactly what Jane needed right now. Jane deserved a good relationship, not someone who couldn’t manage something functional if they had a gun to their head. Melinda would know how to make up her mind. Melinda wouldn’t be terrified of letting someone in. Melinda would be able to share. She’d actually encourage Jane. She’d probably think Jane’s insane moving-in-together scheme was charming and romantic. She’d probably dive right in. 

She probably wouldn’t have heart palpitations every time the man she was in love with asked her out to dinner. 

She wouldn’t push him away.

When Jane had asked her to lunch, she’d probably said yes without even hesitating.

Well. Good for Jane.

Lisbon just needed to finish her paperwork, so that she could get out of here at a decent hour. She just needed a good night sleep. That was all.

Well, that and she also needed a pen to sign the forms to close the case.

Lisbon wrenched her desk drawer open particularly viciously. 

That lunch place was supposed to be _hers_ and Jane’s. They’d better not even _think_ about sharing an ice cream sundae.

xxx

Jane walked out of the CBI elevator with a smile. It really was a lovely day. He wondered if Lisbon would be up for a walk this evening.

He nodded to Rigsby, who was walking towards him.

“Hey man,” Rigsby said as they passed. Then, to Jane’s surprise, Rigsby stopped him with a hand on his arm. “You seen Lisbon in a while?”

Jane frowned. “She’s not here?”

Rigsby glanced away, obviously considering his answer. “Oh she is. It’s just, she’s...”

Jane took a half a step closer, suddenly concerned. Surely nothing catastrophic could have happened in the last hour. “She’s what?”

“Organizing her desk,” Rigsby admitted. “Has been off and on for a good couple of hours. Anything happen earlier, when you two were conducting that last interview, that we should know about?”

Jane frowned. “No, I don’t think so,” he said slowly. Lisbon had seemed fine then, in a good enough mood to let Melinda observe without hassling her. Plus they’d closed the case, so Jane couldn’t think of any reason that she’d be in a bad mood now. “Suspect was mostly cooperative, if a bit rude. But we were expecting that.”

“Yeah, that’s what she said,” Rigsby agreed.

Jane’s frown deepened. What could be bothering Lisbon? “I’ll go talk to her,” he said after a minute.

“Thanks man,” Rigsby murmured.

xxx

“Hey Lisbon,” he said softly as he slipped into the office, not even bothering to knock, noting that sometime over lunch she’d decided to close her door. Even if he hadn’t heard Rigsby’s warning, that would have been a bad sign.

“Hey,” she said, her tone short as she continued to rummage through the files in her filing cabinet without looking at him. “You’re back.”

“I am,” Jane agreed, scanning the office quickly. Lisbon may have been attacking her filing cabinet with an almost frightening degree of violence, but everything on her desk was piled neatly or arranged at precisely ninety degree angles. He winced. Definitely a bad sign. He’d have to tell Rigsby that next time this happened, he should call immediately so Jane could try to head whatever it was off at the pass. Now he’d need to step gently to get things back to even ground. Unfortunately, Jane was pretty sure Lisbon had an impending meeting that would prevent him from dragging her out of the building to really figure out what was wrong and diffuse her temper.

“Did you need something?” Lisbon demanded after a minute.

Jane decided to try a gift, “I brought you a roasted chicken sandwich.” He’d known she wouldn’t eat anything once she got engrossed in her paperwork.

Lisbon barely glanced at it. “I don’t have time to eat right now. I have a meeting. _Where is my damn file?”_ She forced herself to take a breath. “Sorry. Thanks, Jane. Can you put it in the fridge?” she asked as she rummaged around on her desk.

Jane pulled a file from under a pile on the corner and handed it to her. This always happened. Whenever she tidied her desk she couldn’t find anything. “Sure, but Lisbon, are you…”

Lisbon glanced through the file, irritated when she realized that it _was_ the right one. She sent him a strained smile, determined to cut the conversation short. “I have to go. I have a meeting.”

“I know,” Jane told her. “But you’ve got a couple of minutes first. Can I talk to you?”

Lisbon did look at him then with an expression that surprised him. It was part anger, part sadness, part... disappointment, maybe. 

“Jane, I’m not having the best day,” she said, her voice softer than she’d have liked. “Can it wait?”

“No,” he told her bluntly. He didn’t want to cause her further pain, but in order to help, he needed her to talk to him. He needed her to tell him what was wrong. She’d already yelled at him once for keeping secrets and damn it, now he was going to push back. “It’ll just take a minute, and something’s obviously happened since I left an hour ago. What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine,” Lisbon insisted.

Jane almost smiled. On one level her stubbornness never ceased to be endearing. He reached for her wrist, trying to soothe. “You’re not, fine,” he told her gently.

She snatched her hand away, ignoring the flash of hurt she caught on his face as a result. “I _am_ ,” she insisted, knowing how she probably sounded and trying not to care. “I’m just busy. Some of us are.”

“I know,” Jane said, doing his best to shove his own hurt feelings into the background. She was obviously upset. It was the only time she ever seriously lashed out. Well, she’d find it difficult to push him away for any length of time. He had no intention of stepping back from her. “But surely you can take thirty seconds to talk to me.”

“I don’t have time Jane,” Lisbon repeated. “And there’s nothing I want to talk about.” She didn’t want to talk to him right now; she _couldn’t_. If he was so desperate for conversation he’d have to find someone else. Maybe his lunch companion was still available. Lisbon knew it wasn’t fair, knew she was being completely irrational. But right now, she didn’t care. He just needed to go away. 

“Lisbon,” he pleaded softly, like he cared.

And that when she snapped. “Why don’t you go find Melinda if you want to talk so much? She seemed quite interested in what you had to say. And she seemed quite keen to see more of you. The two of you have a lot in common, she’s much more easygoing than I am. And a blind man could see she’s attractive. Very nice teeth.”

“What?” Jane asked, unsure of when the conversation had shifted so decidedly. He tried to catch up. “What on earth are you…?”

Lisbon was back to slamming files around her desk, obviously searching for another one. “Trying to steal my consultant,” she growled. “Right in front of me too. Not that you seemed to mind. Telling you to consider a career change... Whatever. It’s none of my business. It’s fine. Whether you stay or go is up to you. Either way, I can’t talk now; I have to go,” Lisbon told him, power-walking out of her office at top speed while he was still too surprised to stop her.

Half a second later, Jane burst out of Lisbon’s office after her, feeling more than a little shell-shocked. He couldn’t believe it. If he hadn’t seen it himself... Jane was half-intent on chasing her down, until he realized she was already almost at the end of the hall. He watched her take a second to put on her professional mask before she reached the corner.

“She okay man?” Rigsby asked, walking up behind him.

Jane pulled himself together. She wasn’t okay, but he’d have to talk to her about it later. Probably not a good idea to confront Lisbon at the office anyway. She’d kill him if he disrupted her afternoon meetings He’d rally himself for a second attack later, now that he had some idea what he was dealing with. She’d certainly be okay in her budget meeting, or whatever it was. She was too much of a professional not to be. “She will be,” he assured the other man.

“Good,” Rigsby said, obviously more than happy to leave Lisbon’s emotional state in Jane’s hands. The consultant would know what to do, and he wasn’t scared to poke his nose into the boss’ life.

Jane’s certainty on the subject grew as he watched Lisbon disappear around the corner. “She’ll be fine tomorrow,” he said again. She would be. Because he would see to it.

xxx

TBC


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

xxx

Lisbon pulled into her parking spot, pleased that the day was finally over. It was all she could do not to drag her feet as she walked around to the back door of her condo, tossing an empty coffee cup in the trash back there along the way. She’d needed the extra caffeine boost to get through the last meeting of the day. But now it was done. Her horrible afternoon.

Most of which had been her own fault, her own foolishness. (She’d always known that she’d lose him eventually.)

She’d been unbelievably relieved when she’d gotten out of her last meeting of the day and realized that Jane wasn’t waiting for her. She couldn’t quite face talking to him yet, but she’d have to eventually.

Tomorrow. She could do it tomorrow. It’d all been a bit of a surprise this afternoon, but it would be fine tomorrow.

Lisbon knew she was acting irrationally, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. This was good after all. Jane meeting people was good. He needed to expand his social circle. She’d been telling him that for years now.

The bubbly Melinda could be exactly what he needed. Lisbon was happy for him. He deserved a shot at a good relationship. She would tell him so. And she would apologize for her curtness, blame the bureaucracy. That was always a good excuse.

After all, this was exactly what she’d always wanted for him.

She’d be happy for him tomorrow.

Mind made up, Lisbon made her way to her back porch, only to find Jane already sitting on it.

Her heart sank. She wasn’t ready to deal with him yet, to apologize, but like so many things in her life, what she wanted was irrelevant. She was trying to summon up an appropriately friendly greeting when he spoke first.

“You’re insane,” he told her.

“What?” Lisbon asked in shock.

Jane stood, dusting off his pants. “You heard me. You are completely, absolutely, one hundred percent insane.”

Lisbon stalked up to the porch. He had some nerve! “I am not!” she growled. It’d been a long day and she’d wanted to rest, but if Jane was going to be like _this_ , when she’d been determined to be so understanding too…

“Certifiably crazy,” Jane murmured, watching her approach. “Utter lunatic.”

“Did you come here for some reason other than to call me undeserved names?” Lisbon demanded. “Because if so, I can tell you _right now_ …”

But Jane cut her off. “They are deserved,” he insisted. He’d found himself getting more and more annoyed with her as the afternoon progressed and she hid out in her meetings. Okay, maybe that was a bit unfair. Her schedule had probably been jammed before their not-quite-argument. But Jane had no doubt that Lisbon would have avoided him just as effectively if her schedule had been clear, a fact which he was using to justify his annoyance with her. Besides, she had no reason to act the way she was. He’d been perfectly clear in his intentions. Her reaction was just nonsensical. 

“Whatever,” Lisbon muttered, hoping that maybe if she just gave up the argument he’d accept it and move on. “Fine. I’m sorry. I’m just tired today. I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

Jane let her walk by him onto the porch. “I think I’ve made it very clear how I feel about you,” he said quietly.

Lisbon swallowed nervously. “Yes, you have,” she admitted. He had. And now the mess they were in was all her own doing.

“You’re the one who’s uncertain,” Jane continued, watching her face closely, not liking the resignation tinged with a healthy dollop of sadness that he saw there. Maybe even a hint of betrayal, though she was trying desperately to hide it. He really didn’t like the implications of any of it. “And that’s fine. I don’t mind giving you space.”

“I know,” Lisbon replied, becoming resigned to having this discussion now.

Jane shook his head. “No, I don’t think you do. Because your current attitude makes absolutely no sense.”

Lisbon sighed and squared her shoulders, and moved to open her back door. “I told you. I’m fine. I’m not upset. I think it’s great that you... that you want to _make friends_ with another woman.” The fact that she and Jane were where they were now had been her choice. She’d been the one constantly dragging her feet.

“No, that’s not what I meant at all,” Jane told her, panic clawing up in his gut as he realized that she was serious. She _believed_ that. Lisbon wasn’t just panicking irrationally. A part of her genuinely believed that he actually would pursue another woman. Whether he was enough of a jerk to do that to her given their situation was almost a moot point. “The thing is, at lunch today, I think you somehow got the wrong impression.”

Lisbon shook her head and sent him a poor imitation of a bright smile, before turning to her purse. “I think it’s great that you’re pursuing a relationship with Melinda.”

Jane had a sudden urge to shake her. “I am pursuing a relationship with Melinda, I guess,” he admitted. He had been toying with the idea of making another friend lately, someone outside of the team, like Lisbon had with Jo. And he’d enjoyed Melinda’s company. But pursuing a relationship wasn’t exactly how he would have phrased it. Lisbon seemed determined to twist everything around.

“Good,” she said with a nod, refusing to look at him. “That’s good. I’m happy for you. You deserve it.”

“What on earth are you talking about, Teresa?” Jane wondered, starting to feel a little out of his depth.

“Look Jane,” Lisbon said, searching for her keys, nearly crying in relief when she found them. “I told you, it’s great. I’ve had a long day. Can we please talk about this tomorrow?” she whispered, finally looking at him again, and this time not doing a particularly good job of masking her feelings.

The expression in her eyes nearly knocked him over. The overwhelming pain and hurt bursting out of her because she just couldn’t control it any more certainly killed any residual annoyance he might have felt towards her. Somehow, inexplicably, she _had_ misunderstood. She’d really misunderstood. And he needed to fix it now, really fix it, before any hope of something between them disappeared.

Jane took a step towards her, placing a hand on the door to prevent her from opening it and effectively boxing her into the corner of the porch. “No, we can’t talk about it tomorrow,” he said firmly. “It’s too important. And somehow…” He reached his right hand up to cup her face, making sure that she was looking at him. He needed her to look at him right now, and he needed to see her eyes, see the pain go away. “Oh, Teresa, darling…”

Lisbon abruptly stopped playing with her keys. Darling? Since when was she darling? Somewhere, buried deep, a brief spark of something stirred to life.

Jane sighed, recognizing shock when he saw it in her eyes. Why couldn’t he just tell her? He needed to tell her what she was to him, what she’d become. It was obvious that she didn’t know. He’d phrased it as a kind of a game, but it’d never really been one. Not to him at least. He groaned softly. “What did you think I meant when I told you I wanted to move in with you?”

“How should I know?” she asked desperately. “How should I know what you’re thinking? You’re the one who’s insane. You always have these crazy ideas, and it’s half-impossible to predict what you mean by them, or what you’re going to do next. No one asks someone to move in with them just out of the blue… I don’t…I…”

“I’m sorry,” Jane whispered, leaning his forehead against hers. “I’m so sorry, Teresa. I didn’t explain…”

Lisbon shook her head violently. This wasn’t what she’d wanted. She hadn’t wanted to make him feel guilty, or upset. This wasn’t his problem. “No, no, it’s my fault. I’m no good at this. You deserve someone who’s going to be good at this, someone better than me…”

“Shut up,” Jane ordered. 

Her eyes widened in shock as she glanced up to see the anger in his. 

“Shut up,” he repeated, though she hadn’t spoken. “I probably don’t deserve you at all, as it happens. And if you don’t want to do this, or if it’s too much, or too fast, we can talk about that. But don’t tell me I’ll find someone better for me than you, because that’s my choice. And I choose you.”

Lisbon stifled a gasp. “Jane,” she whispered, too overwhelmed to say anything else.

“Teresa,” he murmured, smiling slightly and brushing away a tear threatening to overflow from the corner of her eye.

“I...” she tried to say, dropping her head on his shoulder. 

Jane slid his arm further around her. “I wanted to have lunch with Melinda,” he admitted candidly. “You’re right about one thing, the two of us do have a lot in common. And I enjoyed our lunch. It’s been the first time in a while that I’ve met someone that I wanted to spend a bit of time with. I watched you with Jo, saw how much you enjoyed it. And anyway, you’re always encouraging me to make friends. I thought… I like her. But I wasn’t looking for anything more than that. I wouldn’t do that.”

“Well, how was I supposed to…” Lisbon grumbled. “ Anyway, it’s not like we’ve ever talked about this, what you meant, what this is.”

“Which is why we need to do it now,” Jane told her. “When I said that your attitude makes no sense, I didn’t mean that you had no right to be jealous if I was showing signs of wanting another woman. I meant that your jealousy makes absolutely no sense _because_ I want you.”

Lisbon froze. “I’m not jealous,” she said after a second, exhaling in relief.

“Sure you’re not,” Jane agreed, stepping closer, and trying to get a better look at her eyes. “Anyway, I guess my brain was so wrapped up in you that I didn’t even see how you might misunderstand what was going on. It’s always been so clear to me.” It’d been clear to him since Portland. She made him happy, filled a gap he hadn’t realized had existed. She just _fit._

“Oh,” Lisbon murmured, ducking her head under his chin and resting it on his shoulder. “Well, you were still going out to lunch with a single, beautiful woman, who obviously liked you very much.”

“Just like you did with Jo in Oregon,” Jane reminded her. “You made a friend. You’re always telling me that I should try to make friends. I thought I’d give it a try.” Melinda had realized he was only interested in friendship awfully quickly. Why couldn’t Lisbon?

“My friendship with Jo was a little different,” Lisbon muttered into his shoulder.

Jane was about to dismiss that concern, when a thought struck him. It was a little different. What if Jo had been male? What if she’d been a single, heterosexual male who’d asked Lisbon out for drinks one evening? What if, instead of Detective Frasier, Lisbon’s chosen companion in Portland had been Detective Samson, particularly if he hadn’t been married? After all, married or no, Detective Samson _had_ found Lisbon attractive.

Jane’s arms tightened possessively around the woman in his arms. No. Just no. He wouldn’t allow it. Any men trying to make time with her would find it a bit of a challenge. He would see to that, he thought to himself, pulling her closer.

“What is it?” Lisbon asked curiously, enjoying being in his arms, even if his hold was a little too tight. 

Jane glanced down at her, deciding after a moment that, embarrassing as it might be, it was probably a good idea to explain, really drive the point home for her. “I realized I was lucky Jo was a woman,” he admitted. “You’re much more mature than I am, Lisbon, if a little too self-sacrificing in my opinion. Because I have to say, if Jo had been a man, I’d have probably inserted myself into all your little field trips. I imagine I’d have placed myself physically between the two of you.”

“Oh,” Lisbon gasped again, pleasure rushing through her as she buried her head against his vest.

“You don’t need to feel threatened by anyone, Lisbon,” he murmured into her ear. 

Now it was her turn to tighten her grip.

“And you don’t need to be upset,” Jane added.

“I’m not upset,” Lisbon insisted.

“Sure you’re not,” Jane repeated.

Well, she wasn’t, not anymore at least, she admitted to herself before meeting his eyes. “I’m glad you’re making friends. I want you to make friends,” she told him again.

Jane smiled. “I know you do.”

She exhaled. “Good.”

“And while I do want to be friends with Melinda, you don’t have anything to worry about. She’s not a threat to you,” Jane assured her.

“I didn’t think...” Lisbon attempted to argue.

“Hush. Lisbon,” he murmured. “Just listen. I want to spend the majority of my time with you. Preferably some part of every day, something that would be made easier if we lived together by the way.”

“You’re not moving into my condo,” she told him automatically with a smile. For some reason his constant insistence on moving in together was reassuring.

“I wanted to have lunch with Melinda because I do think she’s interesting. I might even want to have another conversation with her at some point,” Jane continued. “Maybe next week, probably the week after.”

Lisbon was beginning to feel overwhelmingly foolish. “Jane...”

He forced her to acknowledge him, staring right into her eyes. “On the other hand, I want to make you coffee in the mornings, and go for walks with you in the evenings, and watch baseball with you, and split the chores.”

Lisbon’s breath caught in her throat. “That’s...”

“Don’t you dare say _insane,_ ” he whispered, taking a moment to nuzzle her neck. There was a spot on it that he particularly enjoyed.

“Jane...” she murmured, when he pulled away, not sure whether she was admonishing him or encouraging him.

“It’s not _insane_ ,” he murmured against her throat. “It’s one of the least insane things I’ve wanted in the last decade.”

Lisbon tilted her head to give him better access. “What?”

“Lisbon, you may remember, I chased a serial killer for over a decade,” Jane said almost conversationally.

Her eyes popped open. “ _What?”_

Jane chuckled. “Yes, I thought you’d remember that.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” she demanded, pulling away.

“Would you agree that during that time I was rather single-minded in my goal?” he asked enjoying the combination of her flushed cheeks and shocked eyes.

She rolled her eyes, “Single-minded is an understatement.”

He nodded. “And would you also agree that I was methodical and patient when it came to getting what I wanted.”

“Yes,” Lisbon agreed. He’d been positively calculating. It’d been frightening sometimes.

He smiled slowly. “Guess what I want now? Or rather who?”

“God,” she whispered, suddenly feeling like she couldn’t breathe. Now he was frightening for a whole other reason.

“Not quite,” he murmured. “Hadn’t really planned on finding religion at this point in time.”

And just like that, she felt like herself again. Lisbon glared at him, “Did you honestly just compare me to a serial killer? Because that’s not a particularly comforting...”

“Of course I didn’t compare you to a serial killer,” Jane assured her. “I just used that as an example of how dedicated I can be to a cause.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, well in that case...”

Jane ignored her skepticism. “Do you have any idea how many people have lamented to me over the years that I’ve chosen to waste my considerable talents on a goal as poisonous as killing Red John? Well, now that he’s dead, I think you’d agree that I’m using my talents for something better. I’m still helping to solve murders, and now I’m trying to woo you. I think that’s a laudable goal. You make me happy. I’d like to think I have a similar effect on you. Maybe I didn’t earlier today, and admittedly, I’m sure there will be lots of times when we’ll drive each other crazy, but on average...”

Laughter bubbled up in her throat from somewhere. He was absurd; she’d give him that. And somehow she actually felt better. “ _Jane...”_

He smiled at her. “Quite right, Lisbon. I’m digressing. My point is, I don’t change my mind that easily. Having decided that I’d rather like to live with you, I’ve become rather committed to that goal, and you don’t have to worry about me switching my affections to someone else anytime soon. I’m perfectly willing to give you as long as you need to adjust.”

“You seriously think that’s a normal thing to say to a person, don’t you?”she wondered.

“Normalcy’s overrated,” he assured her. “And I suppose one could be concerned about my approach, if I was forcing myself on you in any way Teresa. But I’m not. I’m just trying to convince you that a change in our relationship would be a good thing. We talked about this last week.”

“I... I know,” she admitted. Although, it hadn’t gone particularly well then. She’d been maybe coming around to the idea, until... well...

“And I thought you agreed, at least tacitly,” Jane replied. “You did invite me over for dinner.” 

“I did.” And then he’d invited another woman for lunch and it’d all fallen apart in her head.

“Do you want me to stop? Back down?” Jane asked her.

Oh god. She didn’t. She really, really didn’t. The breath clogged in her throat. “I...” She shook her head ever so slightly. 

Jane smiled. “I want you, Teresa. Only you. And I’m not going anywhere.”

She stared at him, realization and relief rushing through her in an instant. That. That was exactly what she’d wanted him to do, to say. What she’d needed him to say, maybe for weeks now.

Running a hand through his hair, not quite realizing what she was doing, she stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

Jane’s response was enthusiastic. Lisbon suddenly felt the porch railing digging into her back, but decided she didn’t care. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. She needed him closer. She moaned in pleasure when she felt his hands on her waist. He’d slipped them under her blouse at some point.

Jane couldn’t quite believe what was happening as he pushed Lisbon farther up against the railing. He’d started the evening annoyed with her, then afraid he’d made a stupid mistake, and now... Now he was having trouble thinking about anything beyond what her lips were doing. It was the first time she’d kissed him, well that she’d initiated a kiss at least. And she’d apparently decided to skip right over tentative and just take over his brain. This was becoming real now. Very real. Very quickly. He briefly considered hoisting her up on top of the railing, before changing his mind.

Jane let himself enjoy her kiss for a few minutes before pulling back slightly. Because i was too fast. Not because he didn’t want… But part of him was still coming to terms with what moving in with her would actually mean. Besides, he didn’t want their first time to be borne out of a misunderstanding (albeit one that was straightened out). And he wouldn’t rush her either. Not when she’d been so off-balance earlier.

Lisbon stole another kiss before eventually pulling away herself, and settling into his arms. “I should probably call Melinda and apologize, or something,” she murmured against his neck..

“What for? Did you egg her house while I was out?” Jane wondered, running a hand up and down her back.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Lisbon muttered. “No, I was just, I was awfully short with her this afternoon.”

Jane chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry about it. She thinks you’re admirably focused on your job. Much more so than either of us scatterbrains.”

“She’s hardly a scatterbrain,” Lisbon was forced to admit.

Jane couldn’t resist a smile over the fact that Lisbon hadn’t seemed to find it necessary to rise to _his_ defence. “But Melinda doesn’t have your dedication to the common good either. It’s why she’s in the private sector.”

“She said that?” Lisbon wondered.

“Mmhm.” Jane hummed, placing light kisses along her neck. “And I agreed. We spent a fair amount of time discussing you, actually.”

She sighed. “You did?”

“Well, somehow I guess I kept bringing you up,” Jane admitted. Something that had been particularly successful in stopping Melinda from dropping hints about future collaboration.

Lisbon was starting to feel foolish again. “Oh.”

“Oh,” Jane repeated. “So, are you feeling better?”

“Yes,” she admitted, feeling even more foolish.

Jane started toying with her hair. “Good.”

Lisbon lifted her eyes to his. “Jane?”

He watched her, taking the time to enjoy the emotion in her eyes. “Yes?”

Lisbon bit her lip, “Do you want to go for a walk?”

This time, when he smiled at her, instead of ignoring it, Lisbon let herself enjoy the spike in her heart rate. 

“I’d love to, dear,” he assured her.

Glancing up at him shyly, she slipped down the porch steps, comforted by the hand he kept at her waist.

When they reached the sidewalk, Jane settled in beside her as usual. They started off in silence, Lisbon’s eyes flicking towards him every few seconds. He still wanted her. She hadn’t screwed this up irrevocably. The idea made her smile.

Then it hit her.

She didn’t want to screw this up irrevocably. She’d been terrified of losing Jane, still was, if she was honest. But she was enjoying this, enjoying him. Not the panic and the nerves and the fear, but the rest of it.

She wanted _him_. She’d never really let herself admit it fully, but it was true. She wanted to do this. It may have been crazy, but somehow, it also just worked.

She looked up at him, eyes full of wonder. After a second, she bit her lip, and reached for his hand.

She watched him smile out of the corner of her eye, as he tangled his fingers with hers, tugging her slightly closer, and trying to catch her eye.

Eventually she let him, looking up at him shyly, not caring that he could probably see the happiness bubbling out of her.

Her expression shocked him so much that Jane actually stopped walked to stare at her. A few seconds later he got a hold of himself, and pulling her hand up, kissed her knuckles.

Then, keeping hold of her hand, he started walking again, smiling to himself.

Lisbon was the first to break the silence. “You weren’t supposed to want me,” she murmured softly as they turned down a quiet street.

Jane shrugged, obviously unconcerned by the shift in worldview he’d caused. “Well, I do.”

Lisbon took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. She thought she might believe that. “Okay.”

Jane squeezed her hand with a smile.

xxx

TBC


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

xxx

Their walk took a longer route than usual, neither of them wanting to go home. Eventually though, Lisbon did turn to lead them back to her condo.

On the way, she realized there were a few more things that then two of them needed to talk about.

“Sorry about before,” she murmured. “I know I may have gone a little crazy.”

“Maybe a little,” Jane agreed. “But that’s okay. I don’t mind.”

For some reason, his response annoyed her. “Oh, you don’t, do you?”

“No,” he admitted. “You wouldn’t have gone crazy if you didn’t like me a little.”

“Something I’m re-thinking now,” she grumbled.

Jane smiled. “No you’re not.”

She looked at the ground. “No, I guess not.”

Jane frowned, suddenly concerned. “Teresa?”

She bit her lip and took a chance. “I just... don’t want you to leave.”

And all of a sudden, Jane understood a lot more about the past few weeks. He’d known Lisbon didn’t like change and that she’d been particularly terrified of changing their relationship. He hadn’t realized that it was because she’d been afraid of losing him. “Does it sound like I want to leave you?” he asked gently.

Lisbon shook her head. “Well, no, but...”

“Can you give me a chance to prove that I won’t?” he asked.

“I’m working on it,” she admitted.

Well, that was a relief, Jane decided. “Okay. Just think about it this way, if it helps. On whatever scale we use, I think the two of us can agree that I’ve already caused you so much stress with all the insanity and instability in my life that there's no way you could ever catch up, even if you go a little crazy like that every week. Honestly, you're probably due for some craziness. So if you need to panic again, that's fine with me.”

Lisbon glanced up at him. “Really?”

He nodded. “Like I said, Remember how you were there for me for an entire decade when it came to Red John. Well, I'm here now.”

“ _Oh.”  
_  
“Yes,” Jane agreed. “I think that works out well. Of course, the caveat to that is that I'm still going to be insane at work, and you'll have to deal with that. So really, don’t even worry about the occasional crazy spell, Lisbon. No way you catch up to me in the trouble category.”

Lisbon stared at him. “You really are absurd.”

Jane shrugged. “Maybe a little.

Lisbon had to admit (although not out loud), that she kind of liked him that way. Still, she had to be _sure_ that he knew what he was getting into. Because if she was doing this, it wouldn’t be casual. Not with Jane. “I am still a terrible person to have a relationship with, though. You know it as well as I do. I haven’t had a romantic relationship that’s worked in over a decade.”

Jane pulled her up the steps to her condo. “As opposed to me, whose romantic history of the last decade is smooth sailing?”

Lisbon froze in the middle of searching for her keys.

Jane chuckled to himself. “Didn’t think of that, did you dear? If anything, my romantic history makes yours look positively perfect.”

“And our joint relationship baggage doesn’t make you worry that maybe we’d be better off with people with, I don’t know, fewer issues?” Lisbon asked tentatively.

Jane shook his head. “No, of course not. Quite the opposite.”

She looked sceptical. “Really?”

“It’s something we can bond over, Teresa,” Jane explained. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to look for in a relationship, common ground?”

“We already have lots of common ground,” Lisbon grumbled.

He grinned. “ _I know_.”

“Oh, hell,” she murmured. It still sounded crazy, but it was really starting to feel like it could work. She wanted him, and he wanted her, and they already got along, and...

Jane slipped a hand onto the small of her back. He loved that when he touched her now, she didn’t flinch or pull away. “You know how you could make it up to me if you’re worried about it?”

Lisbon rolled her eyes. “If you say let you move into my condo, I swear to god, Jane...”

“I was thinking maybe dinner next week, wearing that dress of yours,” Jane suggested hopefully. That dress had featured prominently in quite a number of his daydreams, but the reality was really so much better.

“Oh,” Lisbon said with a grin.

“Yes,” Jane nodded. If she was in the mood to make it up to him, he was going to get something out of it that he wanted.

“Okay,” Lisbon agreed. Another dinner with Jane where he treated her like the only woman on the planet? Yeah, she figured she could do that.

Jane’s face lit up. “Really?”

“Yes,” Lisbon assured him.

He searched her eyes, looking for some kind of a catch. It couldn’t be that easy, could it? He probably didn’t deserve for it to be that easy. “Really?”

She laughed. “Yes. I think I might be okay with that.”

“With wearing the dress?” Jane double-checked.

“And the dinner, and the dancing, if there is dancing, and the other stuff,” Lisbon told him.

“What about the flowers?” Jane asked her.

“I always liked the flowers,” Lisbon admitted.

Jane watched her for a second. “We’re not just talking about one dinner, are we?”

Lisbon shook her head. “No.”

And with that Jane was almost entirely in her personal space again. “We can go as slow as you need,” he promised recklessly.

“Don’t need to go that slow,” Lisbon told him with laughing eyes.

He could feel his own pulse skitter. “Teresa...”

She smiled slowly, enjoying having him so close. “Jane? Is that okay?”

He nodded. “I think so. Can I let you know if I need to slow down?”

Her eyes softened. He’d been so gung ho about moving in together that she hadn’t really considered how a new relationship might be affecting him. “Of course,” she promised.

“Good,” he murmured. “Anything else?”

“Yes,” she told him. “If we’re doing this, if you’re sure you want to...”

“I am,” Jane interrupted.

Lisbon nodded. “Then you can go out and make as many friends as you want, but... but...” she faltered, no sure how to phrase it.

Jane saved her. “Oh, I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist on exclusivity, Teresa.”

She relaxed. “Okay then. Although, that’s hardly going to be a problem on my side.”

“I don’t know,” Jane said slowly. “I’ve seen how some of our local counterparts look at you when you stride out onto a crime scene.”

Lisbon flushed. “Oh, they do not look at me in any particular way. You’re exaggerating.”

“They do!” Jane insisted. “The local sheriff just two weeks ago was looking at you like he wouldn’t mind taking you out to dinner, and not to discuss any case.”

Lisbon rolled her eyes. “And what about all the women who practically fall all over you?”

Jane smirked. “I’ve been using you as an excuse to avoid them for years. I’m hardly going to stop now that the excuse is actually going to be true.”

She laughed. “So, we’re really going to do this?”

“Yes,” he told her. “We are.”

“Okay,” she whispered. “Okay.”

“We don’t need to figure everything out tonight though,” Jane assured her. “Remember, we can take it slow.”

Lisbon nodded. “Jane?”

“Yes, dear?”

“Are you doing anything on Saturday?” she asked, tilting her head up to look at him.

Jane smiled. “No.”

“Did you know the art gallery’s got a new exhibit on the French impressionists?” Lisbon asked. “It’s apparently only here for a month.”

Jane paused. “I didn’t know. How did you know?”

She shrugged. “Just heard, I guess. I thought maybe we could go Saturday.”

He stared at her. She really was a terrible liar. It was obvious that she’d looked up the gallery’s schedule. And she didn’t really like art. Only one reason for her to do that then. Jane stepped closed the distance between them and kissed her. Because he wanted to and she wanted him to.

A fact that Lisbon herself confirmed by wrapping her arms around him and leaning against him.

“I don’t know why you think you’re bad at this dear,” he murmured.

She glanced down, avoiding his eyes. “The last two hours?”

Jane ignored that. “And I don’t know why you think I’m good at it.”

“What?” Lisbon wondered. After all, he’d done a damn good job of keeping her off balance for weeks.

“I asked you to move in out of the blue, and nearly gave you some kind of aneurism,” Jane reminded her.

Lisbon paused to consider his point. “Well...”

“And then there’s the last ten years,” Jane added. Those had hardly been a walk in the park for her, and much of it had been his doing.

Lisbon disagreed. “That wasn’t your fault.”

“It was,” Jane countered. “But either way, it doesn’t exactly make me a safe bet for a relationship..”

“I... Huh,” Lisbon murmured.

“It really didn’t occur to you that you might not be the only person who’s bad at this?” he wondered.

Lisbon scowled. She’d thought they weren’t going to fixate on that. That they were going to try to work at this together. “ _Jane..._ ”

“I mean, the only think I know for sure is that I refuse to lose you, which is apparently something you also feel strongly about. We just had different ideas about how to ensure that,” he pointed out.

“Oh god...” she murmured. When he said things like that, he made it very difficult to be annoyed with him.

“So I guess it’s good that we have each other to be terrible at this with,” Jane added, liking the way the earlier panic and fear in her eyes had been replaced with a kind of hope. He was determined to keep reinforcing the idea that they both wanted this. Hopefully she’d do the same thing when he started to panic. Her technique would probably be different though. She’d probably just yell at him and fix it.

“I guess so.” Lisbon murmured.

Jane tucked her hair behind her ear. “I told you this wasn’t just some crazy whim of mine. I have thought this through a little.”

“I’m beginning to realize that,” she admitted. She was thinking about it too. 

“Good,” he replied, preparing himself to leave her for the night. Maybe he could steal another kiss first.

Lisbon smiled. “And Jane?”

“Yes, Lisbon?”

“I’m still not ready for you to move in with me,” she told him seriously..

He nodded. “I know.” He was still going to pester her about it, but he really was okay with going slowly.

Suddenly she smiled. “But I think it might be something to work towards.”

Jane stared at her. He wasn’t capable of anything else. 

She laughed, couldn’t resist it.

And then the porch railing was digging into her back again.

xxx

 _A little over two months later…  
_  
xxx

“Jane! Be careful! Don’t knock over that lamp!” Lisbon yelled at him.

Jane sighed, easily avoiding the lamp and setting his box on the coffee table.

“It’s a miracle you didn’t break anything,” Lisbon muttered.

“Oh, it is not,” Jane replied. “It’s maybe a dozen boxes. Even I’m capable of getting those upstairs without causing a disaster.”

“I guess it’s lucky that you don’t have more stuff then,” she told him.

“Particularly since your condo’s pretty full,” Jane replied.

“It’s not _that_ full,” Lisbon countered awkwardly. “I let you make some changes.”

“I got you better pictures at least,” Jane replied. “Something more personal than whatever the previous tenants left behind.”

“Exactly,” Lisbon grumbled.

“You took longer to give in than I originally expected,” Jane informed her. 

“What?” Lisbon asked.

“When I originally came up with the notion of moving in together, I bet myself that I could get you to agree in two months. In reality it took closer to three. I think you waited that extra month just to spite me.”

Lisbon bit back her irritation, knowing he was just teasing her. “Yes, that was _exactly_ what I did,” she said dryly. “The extra month had nothing to do with wanting to be comfortable with the crazy idea.”

“I thought so,” Jane agreed, wrapping his arms around her.

“Mm,” she hummed. It still felt new, this easy affection from him. It wasn’t something she took for granted. She hoped she never would. 

“I like this,” he murmured, holding her tightly.

“Of course you do,” Lisbon argued. “You got everything you wanted.”

Jane grinned. “So did you.”

Her expression turned playful. “Hardly, I still hate that lamp,” she told him, gesturing to the lamp he’d insisted on buying.

“Almost everything then,” he conceded.

Lisbon pretended to consider that. “I don’t know, I kinda hate the old-fashioned looking radio that you bought too.”

Jane mock growled. “That’s it,” he murmured. “I’ll show you,” he added, just before he kissed her.

Feeling her sigh against him, he smiled. It might be time to visit the store downtown again, the one that sold reproductions of furniture. Last time he’d been there, he’d seen a second lamp to match the first, and this argument was just way too much fun to resist.

Besides, he knew that she secretly loved it (the lamp, although she liked bickering about it too).

She was Lisbon, still strong-willed, still stubborn, still set in her ways.

Jane knew he’d never tire of arguing with her to make it work.

And while the lamp (and the radio) didn’t exactly match with the rest of her decor, somehow it all worked.

He smiled down at the woman in his arms. “I thought I’d make fajitas for dinner,” he told her.

“I think we have the stuff to make a salad to go with it,” she murmured.

He nodded. “We’ll have to go grocery shopping tomorrow though.”

Lisbon shrugged. “We can go after work. If you want to unpack, I can get dinner started.”

Jane shook his head. “I’ve only got a couple of boxes left to go. They can wait until after dinner.”

“Okay,” she agreed.

“Lisbon?” he asked, watching her walk into the kitchen.

“Yeah?”

He smiled. “I’ll make the fajitas, you make the salad?”

She smiled back. “Deal.”

He followed her into the kitchen and opened the fridge.

“You’re going to buy another lamp, aren’t you?” Lisbon asked from over his shoulder.

Jane paused. “What makes you say that?”

“I passed by the store yesterday and saw the second one,” she told him.

Jane briefly considered his options. “I may have been considering it,” he admitted.

Lisbon crossed her arms over her chest. “You can’t buy it Jane.”

“What?” he asked. He hadn’t expected that reaction from her. “Now you’re just being unreasonable.”

“No, I’m not,” she told him with a sudden smile.

Jane narrowed his eyes. Something was up.

Confirming his suspicions, Lisbon laughed. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice the extra box on the other side of the couch.”

Jane glanced over in shock, and sure enough there was a box there, the perfect size to hold a lamp. “You really bought my lamp?”

She fidgeted. “I wanted to get you something. You know, since today’s the first day that you’re officially moved in.”

Jane boxed her in against the counter. “You didn’t have to do that.”

She shrugged. “Well, I already did, so...”

Jane just kissed her.

Lisbon wasn’t sure why he was making such a big deal of this. For all her complaining, the lamp wasn’t _that_ bad. And there was an empty space on the other side of her living room that didn’t get enough light. The lamp would fit in nicely, and it would fill the hole that’d been there. She’d always meant to put something there anyway. The lamp was perfect for the space, if a bit odd looking. But Jane liked it.

And the second she’d seen it, Lisbon had known that it would fit in her apartment nicely.

She moaned when she felt his hand trail down her side. “Jane,” she murmured, pushing his jacket off his shoulders

“Hm?” he hummed, distracted by the softness of the skin over her collar bone.

“What do you think about pushing dinner back an hour?” she asked, starting to unbutton his vest.

Jane smiled and pulled her towards the bedroom, _their_ bedroom.

“I think I could live with that,” he assured her before kissing her again.

After all, compromise was essential to their relationship.

Lisbon smiled as Jane manoeuvred her out of her kitchen, not stumbling into a single piece of furniture or box. Her breath caught when his mouth found the sensitive spot behind her ear.

She wrapped her arms around him and let him lead her upstairs, enjoying the familiarity in it, enjoying that having Jane around didn’t freak her out.

Enjoying that a lot of things felt like they might fit in her apartment nicely.

xxx

The End


End file.
